Francisco Vargas relives his ‘fight of the year’ candidate against Takashi Miura [Video]

On Saturday morning, Boxing Writers Assn. of America members met in Las Vegas to select nominees for fight of the year.

That night, Mexico’s Francisco Vargas and Japan’s Takashi Miura submitted their entry in person, engaging in a super-featherweight title classic that brought the Mandalay Bay crowd to its feet.

“A good fight like that, why shouldn’t they vote for it?” Vargas asked Tuesday when he sat down in the Los Angeles offices of Golden Boy Promotions and recounted for The Times his ninth-round technical-knockout victory over Miura.

HBO will replay the full fight at 10:15 p.m. Saturday along with Saul “Canelo” Alvarez’s unanimous-decision victory over Miguel Cotto to claim the WBC middleweight belt, and a replay of the heavyweight title fight between Wladimir Klitschko and Tyson Fury that the network will also show live Saturday at 1:45 p.m. Pacific time.

For those who have HBO East, the entire boxing show will begin at 7:15 p.m. Pacific.   

Vargas (23-0-1), the challenger, started the bout by immediately hurting Miura (29-3-2) in the first round.

“I thought I was going to finish him, but he came back,” Vargas said.

Indeed, by the third round, Miura was boxing light on his feet again and he knocked down Vargas with a straight left in the fourth.

“He was dominating, in control,” Vargas said.

A first-round cut under Vargas’ right eye worsened, reddening and swelling, and by the eighth round, title hopes seemed to be slipping away, particularly when Miura battered Vargas in a neutral corner at the end of the round.

“When I went to the corner, my cornerman told me if I didn’t come out with everything, the fight could be stopped,” Vargas said.

“The only thing that was going through my mind was, ‘I’ve got to win. I want to be champion.’ ”

Vargas knocked down Miura with a flurry of punches. Miura tried to hang on to Vargas for dear life, but then found himself exposed to another onslaught of blows, prompting referee Tony Weeks to stop the fight.

“That’s the reason I was fighting: to be a champion,” Vargas said.