Ferocious Fernando Vargas

Born on December 7, 1977 in Oxnard, California, the Mexican-American youth soon found his way to the famous La Colonia Youth Boxing Club and became that gym's first amateur sensation. In 1992, the 15 year old Vargas won the 132 lbs National Junior Box-Offs, earning a spot on the Junior Olympic Team and came in 2nd there. He came back the next year to win the Junior Olympics and add the Junior Olympics International Tournament to his record. In 1995 he went to the Pan-American Games and won a Bronze, followed by a berth on the 1996 Olympic Boxing Team. Vargas went to Atlanta, but lost a controversial decision in the 2nd Round of the tournament. He turned pro in March 1997, delayed for five months by a broken hand.

"El Feroz" was soon moved up to 154 lbs, and cleaved a path of destruction through its ranks of journeymen. By December 1998, he was 14-0 with 14 KOs, including one over tough journeyman Anthony Stephens. However, he was making a major step up in his 15th pro fight: challenging veteran Mexican puncher Ramon "Yori Boy" Campas for the IBF Junior Middleweight Title. Campas was 72-2-0, and had previously lost only to Felix Trinidad and Jose Luis Lopez, and was making the 4th defense of his title. None of that mattered to Ferocious Fernando. In Round 2, a hard 1-2 busted Campas's eye, causing it to swell up. Somewhere during the fight, Vargas's punches opened bad cuts in Campas's mouth, and he was rocked in the 6th. Campas quit on his stool after the 7th, making Vargas (then 21) the youngest man to win a 154 lbs title.

Vargas stood 5'10" with 70" reach, and fought most of his career junior middleweight. He was a boxer-puncher with a macho, go-forward, straight-punching style that sought to maximize his natural advantages over most opponents in strength and power. It was exciting to watch and attracted him a devoted following of Hispanic fans from Southern California.

After a single tomato can defense, the still youthful and relatively inexperienced Vargas was tangling with the best the division could offer. In July 1999, he met the former IBF champion Raul Marquez. Marquez was a former Olympic teammate of a man Vargas had regarded as a bitter rival, East LA's Oscar de la Hoya. A little older, always just ahead of Vargas, and much more famous and wealthy, Vargas called out de la Hoya at every chance he could get. When he met Marquez, Vargas used him as a proxy. He utterly trashed Marquez, but never hurt him badly enough to stop the fight, drawing the night out so he could viciously put more hurt on the valiant, but outclassed former Olympian. Finally, Marquez was stopped in the 11th.

In December 1992, he met Ronald "Winky" Wright, who was not as well-regarded then as he would be just a few years later. The two had a back and forth brawl, trading bombs all the way. Vargas came on strong in the last two rounds and that was enough to clinch him a narrow victory, but it was a close run thing. The new champion had almost been beaten at his own game by a man who usually boxed and counter-punched his way to a win. That was followed by a meeting with Ike "Bazooka" Quartey, the former welterweight champion who had given Oscar de la Hoya his toughest fight to that time. Quartey was rusty, however, and Vargas out-muscled and out-fought the rugged Ghanian to win a clear points victory.

Crushed by Trinidad

Aged 23, Vargas met undefeated Puerto Rican banger Felix Trinidad in December 2000. Trinidad had just stolen a decision victory over de la Hoya, had moved up in weight, and was taking the youthful Vargas into his biggest fight yet. As hard as Vargas hit, Trinidad hit much harder. Vargas's macho style got him in trouble immediately as Trinidad sent him crashing to the canvas twice in the 1st Round. However, Vargas displayed a warrior's heart by refusing to go down. He fought back gamely, and got back in the game by knocking Trinidad down in the 4th. However, Trinidad's greater artillery and Vargas's inferior defense led inevitably to a knockout defeat in the 12th Round.

Vargas bounced right back after fighting Trinidad, and is to dispel any rumors he got in the ring with the rugged welterweight contender Wilfredo Rivera, and knocked him out in the 6th. However, there was a telltale sign that perhaps Vargas had taken some lasting damage from Tito, as Rivera was able to knock Vargas down in the 2nd. He then captured the vacant WBA title to become a two-time champion.

This led to the fight Vargas had long desired: squaring off with Oscar de la Hoya in September 2002. Vargas did well in the early rounds, with his greater size and strength showing its worth. However, by the middle of the fight he found himself tiring and stymied by de la Hoya's greater skill and speed. Both men were bleeding from the nose when the Golden Boy caught the Aztec Warrior with a punishing left hook to the head, followed by a fast combination to the body. Hurt, Vargas came out in the 11th to be stopped by a de la Hoya trademark left hook.

Afterwards

Ferocious Fernando began his second comeback. He did well in knocking out journeymen Tony Marshall and Fitz Vanderpool in 2003, and knocking down and decisioning Spanish contender Javier Castilleo. That earned Vargas a showdown with Shane Mosley for the vacant WBA title. Vargas scored repeatedly and hard on Mosley's head and body, but when Vargas's eye started to swell Mosley bullseyed it with quick, hard shots. By the 10th, the eye was swollen shut. The scorecards were close, but the doctor was forced to stop the fight. It was to be Vargas's last great effort. Mosley and Vargas fought a rematch five months later, but Vargas had given up too much and showed little fire. Mosley crushed him with a picture perfect left hook in the 6th.

In what was a crossroads fight for both men, Vargas fought Nicaraguan brawler Ricardo Mayorga in November 2007 at middleweight. It was a meeting to two too-macho trash talkers. Mayorga sent Vargas down with a solid combo in the 1st, cut him in the 3rd, and then knocked him down again in the 11th. Still, Vargas did well enough to hold Mayorga to a Majority Decision, despite the knockdowns. Still, it had confirmed that Vargas was a spent force at age 30. He retired shortly thereafter.

Sources: http://www.hbo.com/boxing/fighters/vargas_fernando/bio.html; boxrec.com; live fight footage.