By Brent Matteo Alderson (Click here to read Part 1.)

So De La Hoya was back with Arum and set to fight El Feroz in May, but he got hurt again and the fight was postponed until September of 2002.  In the mean time, Karmazin fought Castillejo for the interim title and the Spaniard won a decision and the WBC interim title. 

Supposedly that means that the organization’s own title is in dispute and the regular champion has to defend against the interim champ in order to solidify his status as champ, but after De La Hoya knocked out Vargas he took an easy tune up against washed up Yori Boy Campas and then engaged in a return match with Shane Mosley. 

By now it’s the fall of 2003 and nobody has fulfilled their obligation to fight the number one contender Javier Castillejo and Shane Mosley wins a controversial decision against De La Hoya and decides to defend against Winky Wright and loses the fight.  After the Wright-Mosley rematch, the WBC strips the belt from Wright and declares Castillejo the WBC champion since he had been waiting as the interim title holder since 2002. 

Now this is where it gets real shady.  The WBC installs Mayorga as it’s top contender despite losing two of his last three fights and insists that Castillejo fights Mayorga, but at the time the Spaniard is already in negotiations with HBO for a lucrative defense against Fernando Vargas.

Everybody knows that King has a lot of influence at the WBC and he uses it to get the WBC to strip Castillejo of the title, despite the fact that the Spaniard had waited patiently for a big fight for three years while he was the interim champ.  The 37-year old Castillejo decides to defend his title against Vargas in August on HBO and the WBC immediately withdraws it’s recognition of Castillejo as it’s champion and sanctions a title bout between Mayorga and Picirillo for their 154-pound title. 

Mayorga wins a decision and the title on August 13 and Vargas beats Castillejo in a 10-rounder on HBO which wasn’t for anything according to the WBC since they had completely dumped Castillejo from their ratings for not complying with their (King’s) demands.  Vargas’s people were livid because the WBC title would have given them a lot more collateral in negotiations with De La Hoya or any other possible big time opponent and threaten to sue the WBC, even making references to the multi-million dollar lawsuit it lost to German Graciano Rochigiani.   

As of right now Vargas is the number one contender for Mayorga’s title, but the ferocious one isn’t even sure if he wants the bout because he is hoping to land a more lucrative fight with De La Hoya. 

As always, Oscar is in the driver's seat due to his power at the box office and may elect to strike a deal and fight Mayorga.  The fight with the Nicaraguan won’t be as big as the Vargas fight but it well help De La Hoya gage where he’s at physically and it’s an easier fight and still pretty marketable.  Plus it could serve as a tune up for a super fight against Wright or Vargas. 

I’m not so sure De La Hoya is going to fight Fernando and think that Vargas shouldn’t base his career on Oscar’s infrequent fight schedule, but the he should push HBO to put him in with Wright in December, and then if Vargas wins that one, Oscar will almost be forced to fight him again.  The problem with that is that Wright is a hell of a fighter and Vargas and his people don’t want to take short money to get their behinds kicked by the Winkster. 

I personally think that Vargas has a good chance of winning that fight and have a feeling that it might weaken Wright to make 154.  Hopefully Fernando backs up his talk about being a man of honor and pride, about being a real Mexican, and decides to take the Wright fight because right now a win against Wright can make everything that’s gone wrong in Fernando’s career right.