Was Vargas a lucky bum, decent, good, or great pugilist??

[billeau2]

Fernando Vargas was one of the most exciting prospects I ever covered, hard hitting, vicious in the finish and supremely gifted. Sadly, even as he won his world championship it was obvious he may never live up to his full potential. The celebrity life style was getting to him and he had started to believe his own hype, he believed he could take inhuman punishment and still keep coming forward. He gave up on his boxing and just stood and traded with guys who just hit too damn hard.

Vargas' worst enemy was Vargas...sadly.

Yes! One could write a Broadway production about Nando, all the elements are there. I am reading this thread and am once again reminded about how short people's memories are! No, Nando was certainly not rushed along! He was not destroyed by the likes of Tito and Oscar....though these fights were quite revealing.

It might suprise people to "remember" that Nando was brought along slowly and carefully. The Duvas were excellent feeding him a steady diet of opponents increasing in ability as he got better. The story of Nando is, as said above: "a talented fighter, who could not overcome himself." His arrogance, his decisions, etc.

For example, when he fought Oscar it was a set up where two Mexican Americans were veying for being the more authentic Aztec warrior...While Oscar sets himself up as the underdog what does Vargas do? Roids up, acts menancing....by the time the fight happened one would have thought Oscar was Pancho Villa! and Vargas created the image of a cheap thug, menancing, out for blood, against the poor darling savoir of pure boxing and the Mexican heritage...De La Hoya. This was not the way to go into fight of this calibre, he should have tried to have the crowd at least not hate him!

Vargas was inept which made it all the more troubling when considering how carefully brought along he actually was. But in the end? He simply was not an elite fighter. he could not beat the guys he needed to beat. From there he slid backwards. Nando was incredibly hyped when he was coming along and he never really missed a beat to speak of....when he got there? alas he was sparked.

[wesk81]

Im with the ones that say he could have been great, I agree that Trinidad fight was too much too soon then the DLH fight only a couple fight after, If his team would have brought him up a little slower and not go after the big money fights so soon they would have made a lot more money in the long run and his legacy would be different.

Ugly end to his carrier with the two Mosley loses and the Mayorga loss

[Sociopath]

i hated Vargas so much that i rooted for DLH when they fought...THAT is how much i hated his punk ass


i watched the tito fight at least 30 times and laugh each time that first left hook from hell lands...

I remember watching that fight with some friends on PPV drunk off Gin. We all started going nuts when DLH knocked him down in the 11th.

I didn't hate the guy though.

As for the thread, I wouldn't call him a "lucky bum". He was a good fighter who just fell short.

[extracurRICular]

I remember watching that fight with some friends on PPV drunk off Gin. We all started going nuts when DLH knocked him down in the 11th.

I didn't hate the guy though.

As for the thread, I wouldn't call him a "lucky bum". He was a good fighter who just fell short.

so far nobody has.....

[The Big Dunn]

Was Vargas a lucky bum,decent, good, or great pugilist??

His best win came Vs Winky (IMHO) and maybe Ike Quartey....

he was a two-time world champion

He stepped up Vs Tito, DLH , and Shooga, and got GOT.....

here is a bit more info from wiki

In his professional debut on March 25, 1997, Vargas crushed Jorge Morales in just 56 seconds. Immediately, a star was born. Fernando blasted his next five opponents all within two rounds, eliminating four of his five challengers in one round each. After six professional bouts, Vargas had fought a total of only eight rounds. Vargas racked up an impressive record of 14 victories with 14 KOs against no defeats by the time he fought for his first world championship.

Vargas won his first world title in 1998, knocking out Yori Boy Campas in seven rounds for the IBF light middleweight championship. Vargas successfully defended the title throughout 1999, with victories over Howard Clarke (TKO 4), Raúl Márquez (TKO 11), Winky Wright (MD 12), and Ike Quartey (UD 12).

what is your take on Fern???

good fighter who should've waited a little before he took the odh and tito fights.

[bose]

At Vargas age to do what he did to some really good fighter is really great. He was rushed but he belived in himself and his trained feed him ideas. Which is good, you as a coach you have to hold your fighter back a little for his own good. Vargas partying ways hurt him very badly, along with bloating up. His work on Quarty was a master piece. He beat Winky when nobody wanted to fight him because of the high risk low reward.

When i saw a video of Robert Garcia say theres no one in boxing today like Vargas, well...he is right. Vargas backed up what he said, never backed down. Anyone remember the Thompson fight? Poor Thompson. A Vargas charactor is what boxing needs right now.

Don't know where you can place him in history before Delahoya fought Castillejo, Vargas beat him first, even before Castillejo became middleweight champion beating Sturm. He even fought a better version of Quartey than Winky did and if you want to see two bobbleheads in real like check out that fight, Quartey and Winkey showed no defence, fun fight to watch.

In the end it was Vargas and people close to him that wanted to see him advance as fast as he can. He had a great run, best run so far than any Oxnard fighter yet.

[VatoMulatto]

I like Vargas, he had a ton of heart, could bang and was willing to fight anyone.

He was thrown to the wolves against Tito. He fought back well after a disastrous start and had his moments, even forcing Tito to resort to a few dirty tricks to stop his momentum. Of course tito was an animal and eventually caught up to him.

I think it was the de la Hoya fight that ruined el feroz. To be dropped and stopped by the goldenboy really hit him hard and he was never the same again.

He was a fighter that could have been great if he was guided correctly, more like canelo, but ultimately his warrior spirit prevented him from reaching his true potential.

Vargas was never really the same after the Tito fight. That's the fight that ruined him IMO. Im still disappointed that he decided to take anabolic steroids against ODLH

[The Problem Child]

Big Feroz fan here. I remember when I was about 13 doing the badass duckface thing Vargas did in every photo lol. Anyhow, he was thrown to the lions TOO FAST! And even with his inexperience he held his own against the big dogs.

[AntonTheMeh]

problem with vargas was he peaked early, so they threw him in the shark tank with tito. i think he was the youngest jr middleweight titleist ever, with a pretty good resume having beating quartey and the great winky wright in a close fight.

[Bushidō]

He looked pretty awesome vs Quartey. I think Trinidad juts damaged him to the point of no return