By Andy Rivera

Saturday afternoon at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, Golden Boy Productions & Main Events announced the February 25th “Showdown” between Fernando Vargas and Sugar Shane Mosley. The bout will be staged at the 154 pound limit.

Both fighters were very respectful towards each other with neither man saying anything negative. To announce the fight, Golden Boy president Oscar De Hoya opened by saying the fight was a natural for both fighters, and for all the rivalries in 147 to 154 pound era. Vargas beat Winky Wright, Wright beat Mosley twice, Mosley beat De La Hoya Twice and De La Hoya stopped Vargas. You get the idea.

Vargas was the first of the two to hit the microphone, saying he will be ready for Mosley and explained the reason for his grade F performance in his last fight against Javier Castejillo. Vargas stated that he started camp weighing 193 and during training had one, two, maybe three cheat days, and even on the day of the weigh-in he had to sweat off four pounds. With that in mind, he said he was drained from the opening round.

“I was done from round one, it’s a good thing I can box and I came out victorious.” said Vargas. “I asked god let me get though this one and I promise I will live straight from there”.

When discussing Mosley, Vargas says its all love for him, but in the ring there are no friends and he will see the Vargas of old. Vargas said his weight is already at 175. “Twenty pounds is nothing to lose in two months”.

Mosley was up next, laughing when he said, "I don’t know if Fernando is really 175 right now, but hey if he says so”. Bringing a chuckle from the crowd, “But in all honesty I respect Fernando and I expect him to be his best and I will be at mine.”

Fighting his last two fights at 147, Mosley felt that it is in his best interest to fight Vargas at 154 since it's the biggest fight out there for him. Mosley last fought at 154 in 2004 when he lost two consecutive fights to Winky Wright. Vargas on the other hand has fought most of his career at Jr. Middleweight limit, becoming the youngest titlist in the division when he halted Yori Boy Campas at the age of 20.

The bout will be on PPV and will also feature the first defense of newly crowned WBO Bantamweight champion Johnny Gonzales.