By David P. Greisman
Less than two years into his professional career, Fernando Vargas, the “Ferocious” member of the United States’ 1996 Olympic Boxing team had become “Precocious,” a 21-year-old with a championship belt thanks to a stoppage of junior middleweight Yory Boy Campas.
He went balls to the wall, all out against his competition no matter the price to be paid, a notion exemplified best by his knockout loss to Felix Trinidad. Against Trinidad , Vargas was sent to the canvas five times, and put “Tito” on the mat once himself, but was overwhelmed and finally halted in the final round.
One had to wonder whether or not Vargas had done too much, too soon before being derailed by Trinidad , much in the same way the question had been asked nine months prior about David Reid, Vargas’s Olympic teammate.
Reid, who had won the light middleweight gold medal, had captured a 154-lb title in his twelfth fight, and faced off with the undefeated and much more experienced Trinidad just three bouts later.
The night was similar to the one Vargas would have, with Reid going down four times while doing the same to Trinidad once in the early portions of the bout. Reid would make it the distance with a unanimous decision loss, but he ended up suffering a detached retina. By the end of 2001, his once-promising career was finished, a knockout loss to journeyman Sam Hill terminating Reid’s nickname, “The American Dream.”
As for Vargas, his loss to Trinidad was followed by two quality wins over Wilfredo Rivera and Jose Alfredo Flores, and then a meeting with Golden Boy Oscar De La Hoya, with whom, like the promotion was titled, he shared bad blood.
De La Hoya had, in Vargas’s eyes, snubbed Fernando, and “El Feroz” desired little but to get Oscar in the ring and exact revenge. But Vargas’s dream would have to be deferred, as Oscar won via an eleventh-round technical knockout. To add insult to injury, the bloodied Vargas would soon thereafter be suspended for testing positive for steroids.
After serving the nine months of forced inactivity, Vargas would return to the ring twice to close out 2003, knocking out Fitz Vanderpool and Tony Marshall. Unfortunately, a bulging desk in his back would put Vargas on the shelf once again, a fifteen month layoff that ended earlier this year with a twelve round decision over Raymond Joval.
After that bout, I wrote that Vargas had become tamer and lamer, that he “only occasionally flashed his offensive fire, interspersing popping left hooks and snapping jabs between stylish defensive posturing. With his body angled and his chin tucked tightly on his chest, Vargas ducked and slipped punches rather than engaging.”
We chalked it up to ring rust, to a continued rehabilitation of a nagging injury, to the incorporation of a different style under new trainer Danny Smith. But when Vargas set his sights on the WBC junior middleweight belt and Javier Castillejo, we waited, anticipated the day that the Ferocious One would return and dispose of the aging Spaniard.
The fight, thanks to the shady politics of boxing, ended up without the prize of a title, but Vargas and Castillejo met anyways, with Vargas coming out the victor with a ten-round decision. What didn’t occur, though, was ferocity, as cautiousness reigned supreme. Vargas put Castillejo down in the third with a hard right hand to the neck followed by two left hooks as the Spaniard squatted in pain, but Fernando was either unable or unwilling to put his opponent away.
As a result, Vargas would leave the winner but hurt with a swollen jaw and bloody mouth, a surprising result considering the lack of pop that Castillejo seemed to have on his punches. Under Smith’s guidance, safety was intended to come first, with the trainer admonishing Vargas in the corner, convincing him to abstain from entering into a war, an instinct that likely runs deep in his blood.
It’s difficult to repackage a fighter that has been set in his own ways for so long. Buddy McGirt attempted to do so for Arturo Gatti, but Micky Ward always brought out the brawler. Gatti, though, was able to learn skills that would extend his career and bring extra paydays, and that seems to be what Vargas desires, too.
Throw in the likelihood of a gigantic payday in 2006 with a rematch against Oscar De La Hoya, and one can see the practicality of making it to one’s destination in one piece. Ironically, the jaw injury he suffered could keep Vargas from fighting until the proposed date in May, away from facing others who could harm his countenance and his compensation.
While neither Vargas nor De La Hoya may ever be candidates for the pound-for-pound lists again, it shouldn’t diminish the interest in their fighting for a second time. Neither Gatti nor Ward had been true contenders for junior welterweight superiority when they fought, but people knew that fireworks would happen, and they did.
Fernando and Oscar may have faded tremendously, but they are consummate professionals that know how to put on a show between those ropes. The only worry is that Vargas, in his new form, would box carefully and leave Oscar the aggressor, a possible stinker that would be the complete opposite of what occurred between them in September 2002.
In interviews, Vargas has proclaimed respect for De La Hoya, a large paradigm shift from his former point-of-view. If his fire and rage have burned out and money is the main motivator, then buyers should beware. Yet the possibility remains that the warrior in him, like the phoenix, will rise out of the ashes, and that part of Vargas which was Ferocious will once again be free.
The 10 Count
1. In facing Rocky Juarez, Humberto Soto, a late replacement for injured featherweight beltholder In Jin Chi, approached the fight in the right way and as a result reaped the rewards. Rather than arrive as the designated opponent to be sacrificed to an up-and-coming contender, Soto fired his jab, walked through power punches and earned a decision win over the previously undefeated Juarez . By doing so, Soto, who couldn’t overcome an over-the-hill Kevin Kelley three years ago, has won a mandatory shot at Chi when the Korean returns. As for Juarez , he will need to go back to the drawing board, but he shouldn’t drop his head too low. Soto was the bigger, better man that night, but Juarez never gave up, was able to find his considerable power to still be around in the late rounds, and, with assistance, can pinpoint the areas in which he needs to improve. First on his list should be acknowledging that, with his shorter height but greater power, he needs to be a pressure fighter and not just rely on one punch.
2. While HBO has rightly not shown on camera past fracases in the stands, except the riot at Madison Square Garden following Bowe-Golota I, they were absolutely correct in deciding to pan to the fight in the crowd at the Allstate Arena following Vargas-Castillejo. Considering that members of Vargas’s posse were seemingly involved in adding fuel to the fire by joining the melee, it was a bit newsworthy, especially as Vargas was quite distracted by it during his post-fight interview with Larry Merchant. And when taking into account the idea that Vargas’s group had been holding onto Fernando’s three children earlier, Vargas should have a long, serious discussion with his friends and employees.
3. Basketball player-turned-cruiserweight boxer Kendall Gill won his second bout on the undercard of Castillejo-Vargas, a four round decision over Jason Medina. Gill was released by the Milwaukee Bucks, so perhaps, at the tender age of 37 he can take on a serious career in the sweet science, trading in sky hooks for left hooks and three-second violations for standing eights. And at least in boxing, fighting doesn’t involve Jeff Van Gundy holding onto Alonzo Mourning’s leg for dear life during a bench-clearing brawl.
4. I’m unsure if the acquisition of The Contender by ESPN will be as successful as they may hope it to be. One of their more successful series of original programming, Playmakers , did less than half of what the boxing reality show generally pulled in, but was still able to claim success due to it being broadcast on cable. I don’t know if the production costs, which were reportedly sky high in season one, will be lower due to assets such as the housing, training gym and arena already being built, nor am I sure if people will follow the series away from network television. The network already airs boxing on its ESPN2 station, but those cards doubtfully pull in the amount of eyes that ESPN would want for The Contender , although it is a foundation that they could build off of. With the premiere of the second season not set until next spring, these are questions that we will need to wait to have answered.
5. It is utterly ridiculous that the IBF stripped Juan Manuel Marquez of its featherweight belt just because no promoter bid on his mandatory defense. Although Marquez had priced himself out of a bout with Erik Morales and a rematch with Manny Pacquiao, for him to be punished while his intended challenger, Phafrakorb Rakkietgym, gets to remain on board for a title shot, stinks of foul play and bad decision making. If promoters fail to bid for a fight, then a sanctioning body, in my opinion, should offer to hold the bout on its grounds, without pay. If the belt is important to its owner, then he will defend it at his own risk, but if the money is the priority, then the punishment of stripping can be undertaken.
6. Last week, I erred slightly while describing the lack of good heavyweight fights in 2005, writing that Monte Barrett’s February knockout of Owen Beck had been “the only palatable fight featuring boxing’s big men” this year. I had no intention of giving short shrift to Calvin Brock and Jameel McCline, who in April had the only other decent fight in their weight class. Brock came off the canvas in that bout to outpoint McCline and earn his biggest victory to date, and The Boxing Banker is on the verge of a career breakout, needing only one or two more high profile fights and then a title bout.
7. Brock’s last television appearance was on ESPN’s April 23 pay-per-view (Brock knocked out Kenny Craven on the pre-broadcast undercard of Gatti-Mayweather), and the sports network had originally been planning on having another PPV this fall. But with the wealth of PPV shows already slated for the remainder of the year, as well as a lack of quality marketing time thanks to ESPN’s commitments to the end of the baseball season as well as the premiering of the three other major sports, their next PPV will take place in 2006. It’s a shame, because of the winners of the three headline bouts on that card (Shane Mosley, Antonio Margarito and Calvin Brock), none has received face time since. Mosley will fight Jose Luis Cruz on the undercard of September 17’s Marco Antonio Barrera-Robbie Peden PPV, and Margarito is rumored to return in November, but the hope that ESPN would be another outlet for quality pay-boxing shows has been squelched by the greedy abundance that is overwhelming fans’ wallets.
8. At least fans are beginning to use good judgment when it comes to putting down money for PPV boxing. Reports are that Don King’s August 13 event did only 35,000 buys, a paltry amount that should mean that the promoter will lose money on the card. Now if people pan Barrera-Peden, and save their money from October 1’s Antonio Tarver-Roy Jones card in favor of the following week’s Corrales-Castillo II mega-event, a pattern will have appeared and, perhaps, a message sent. Unfortunately, Tarver-Jones will likely do good numbers, and it’s not that it shouldn’t, except that its proximity to Corrales-Castillo is detrimental to our dollars.
9. I don’t care how regional or minute the title belt is, there is no way that Eric “Butterbean” Esch, who recently lost for the second time to the aforementioned Kenny Craven, should be a contender for it. Butterbean is currently scheduled for an October date with George Linberger for the NABC Super Heavyweight title. In case you’re curious about Linberger, his main claims to fame are first-round knockout losses to Butterbean and Nicolay Valuev.
10. Just read that Calvin Brock was recently “digitized” so as to be put in the video game, Fight Night Round Three . Good for Brock, as this will mean some name recognition for a man touted to be the future of the heavyweight division. But here’s hoping that he’s not put on the cover, which would symbol a probability to fall prey to the purported EA Sports cover curse. Roy Jones Jr. was on the cover of the initial release and was knocked out twice. Bernard Hopkins stood on the front of this year’s version and lost his title. In the tradition of silly superstition, creepy coincidences continue.
