By Carlos Boogs

Former two-division champion Timothy Bradley was cruising steadily to a decision win on Saturday night at the StubHub Center in Carson, California - until Jessie Vargas clipped him hard on the chin in the final minute. The shot rocked him to his knees and forced him to immediately retreat for cover.

As Vargas was trying to finish him off, referee Pat Russell jumped in and started waving things off. Vargas and his team were quickly under the impression that they had won by TKO and they immediately started celebrating.

Bradley was confused on what had transpired until Russell cleared things up by admitting that he unfortunately stopped the fight a little too early. Russell thought he heard the final bell and jumped in to end the action.

“I didn’t really know what happened. I thought it was the end of the fight. But even if the ref had let him go, I would have survived the round. I’m an experienced fighter. I know what I’m doing in there,” Bradley said.

Vargas believes he was robbed of a potential knockout victory. The end was a flashback to Bradley's fight with Ruslan Provodnikov, where Bradley was badly hurt and down in the closing seconds of the fight. Vargas felt the referee hindered his ability to finish Bradley off.

Bradley laughed off any suggestion of getting knocked out, point to the fact on how he survived Provodnikov feared power. Vargas has only secured 9 knockouts in his career.

"I don't have to defend anything. He landed a great shot, he hurt me, but I would have finished. Come on, I survived Provodnikov," Bradley said.