Photo by Chris Farina

The fans didn’t wait until the end of the 12th round to applaud.

Throughout Saturday’s Pier 6 brawl between Francisco Vargas and Orlando Salido, audience members jumped to their feet and showered the fighters with an ovation. They didn’t want it to stop and the fighters obliged. If the boxers were trying to honor the memory of Muhammad Ali, they did a pretty good job.

Photo by Naoki Fukuda

In an absolute slugfest, Vargas and Salido fought to a majority draw with scores of 115-113 for Vargas and 114-114, 114-114 on Saturday at StubHub Center in Carson, California on HBO. Vargas retained his WBC junior lightweight title with the decision.

The bout will be a candidate for Fight of the Year. Vargas seemed to stun Salido briefly with a left to the body in the second. Salido returned fire with a hard left. A small nick appeared over Vargas’ left eye in the second. Who knows where it came from? The heads and punches were flying.

Photo by Naoki Fukuda

Salido landed a hard left in the third and continued to flurry on Vargas to end the frame. The two unloaded on each other in the fourth. Salido continued to press the advantage in the fifth, Vargas’ face starting to break open with a cut above his left eye bleeding. Salido was the quicker and more active fighter with Vargas struggling to keep up to that point.

But Vargas rallied and hurt Salido with a big right midway through the sixth. Twice in the sixth the smaller Salido literally bounced off the ropes after absorbing shots. Just when it seemed as if Salido was in control, Vargas struck back, hurting Salido in the 10th with a four-punch combination only for Salido to come back with a raking overhand right. A ringside physician examined Vargas’ eye before the 12th round and let it continue.