Two Michael Katz articles on the fight:
Vargas' First Step Back is not A Little One
by Michael Katz
EL PASO, May 3 - Bumps make the road interesting. Anyone can coast on smooth pavement. What you do after you have an accident, how you climb back on the horse, that's what measures your heart. It's what makes Saturday's main event so intriguing, the chance perhaps to see if Fernando Vargas can overcome one of the toughest speed bumps in boxing.
Last Dec. 2, the all-conquering (set italics) enfant terrible , the youngest man, at 21 years, to win a world junior middleweight championship, bumped into one of the greats. Vargas had beaten up the guys he was supposed to beat up, then threw in a convincing and dominant performance against Ike Quartey. He was on the cusp of stardom and so he really stepped up and fought Felix Trinidad Jr.
People who step up to fight Trinidad usually get knocked down. Oscar de la Hoya, Vargas' bitter enemy from Southern California, remained on his feet, but the feet were running and his reputation went down. David Reid, a 1996 Olympic teammate of Vargas, got knocked down, four times, after leading early. He hasn't been the same since. Now we'll get to see what Trinidad took from Vargas.
He knocked the California native down five times and that only approximates just how bad the beating was. Now Vargas is returning and his promoters, Main Events, have chosen the durable and tough Wilfredo Rivera to be his opponent.
"Believe me, he wants to fight with me after that hard fight he has?" said Rivera. "I think it's a mistake for him."
He said if he were coming off a beating, he would not pick on Wilfredo Rivera.
"Of course not," said Vargas. "He's Wilfredo Rivera. He's not Fernando Vargas."
He was wearing a T-shirt that announced, "Powered by Frijoles" at the final press conference yesterday at the Don Haskins Center on the UTEP campus. The words are still cocky, but Vargas seems more subdued. Maybe it was the beating, the disappointment against Trinidad, maybe it was having to cop a plea on his golf game, wherein he could have gotten jail time for not yelling "Fore" before allegedly clubbing some bar room bouncer in the apartment of the bouncer's ex-girl friend. Whatever.
He says he's more mature now that he's 23. He insists he did not make a mistake by fighting Trinidad so early in his career, after 20 pro fights. There was no talking him out of it, but the camp says there was no reason to, everyone believed. After all, he had only 14 pro fights when he battered Yory Boy Campas to win the IBF 154-pound title.
Shelly Finkel, one of his co-managers, has been impressed with how Vargas has handled defeat. "He knows what happened," said the manager. "He doesn't blame anyone else but himself. The first step in correcting your mistake is not denying it."
He didn't fire his trainers - Eduardo Garcia, whom he looks up to as a father, and assistant Roger Bloodworth - or his managers, Finkel and Rolando Arellano. He didn't complain that he has never learned anything about boxing. He said he mistakenly went out to brawl instead of to box. He got caught in the opening round, was floored twice then and it is a testimonial to his courage that the fight even saw Round Two.
By the fourth round, he dropped Trinidad. It was a remarkable display. But in the 12th, Trinidad really opened up and hammered Vargas to the canvas three more times before it was finally stopped. But in his return, Vargas didn't look for a Derrell Coley to fight. In fact, of the three names given Main Events, his promoters, that HBO said it would accept, Rivera was by far the toughest. The others were Bronco McKart and Roshii Wells.
Rivera, who turns 32 on Friday, is not a shot fighter, said Robert Mittleman, his agent. "If that's what they think, they're in trouble," said Mittleman. "I know this. I rest my fighters after a fight like that (Trinidad's pounding of Vargas)."
Trinidad's countryman, and friend, has a 32-4-1 record with 20 punches - he's not a big puncher, but he also struggled for years to make 147 pounds. His losses were to what will be a wing in a hall of fame - two close decisions to Pernell Whitaker, a stoppage for cuts against Oscar de la Hoya, and a tenth-and-final-round knockout by Sugar Shane Mosley after a terrific struggle.
Only the best beat him. Rivera claims he never lost to Whitaker. "Many people know I beat Whitaker twice," he said. "The judges beat me, not Whitaker."
Vargas, who calls himself "Ferocious" and is fierce in his loyalty to Mexico, though he was born in America, picked not only the opponent but the site. This is de la Hoya country. More than 40,000 showed up to watch him defend his welterweight title against a French cruller. There were more than 2,000 fans, mostly screaming teenaged girls, to greet de la Hoya's plane.
Vargas thinks the 200 or so fans who met his plane was "awesome." Carl Moretti, the Main Events matchmaker, said at the airport, Vargas turned to him and said, "Can you believe this? And I lost."
He lost the fight, but not his reputation. Losing to Trinidad, especially at that stage of his career, is understandable. The way he lost, giving his all, was enough for him to be adored.
He said he didn't need a "confidence builder" for his first ring appearance in five months. "I took some time off, that was my confidence builder," he said. "I think I grew a lot. The fight with Trinidad helped me."
He said his mistake was trying to show the world "how Mexicans fight," an unsubtle barb at de la Hoya. He said he went in willing to trade with Trinidad, instead of doing "what got me here, boxing."
"There's a difference between boxing and running," he said. "In the Trinidad fight, (de la Hoya) did run."
It took him a while before he could watch tapes of his fight with Trinidad. "It was definitely hard for me to watch," he said. "But great champions have lost. It's what you do when you come back, that's what makes great champions of good champions."
He said he "didn't want to step in the ring with a nobody," why he picked Rivera. "I know how I'm going to react, I've done my training. I've sparred and I've gotten hit. I know how I'm going to respond.
"It's hard for you to lose," he admitted. "I still feel bad about it. What made me feel better is to see fighters come back from adversity." He mentioned Muhammad Ali and Roberto Duran. He did not mention Oscar de la Hoya.
He said he was "astonished" by the way he was greeted when he finally worked up enough nerve to go out among his constituents. "I didn't want to go out for a while, your pride is hurt, especially a fighter like me," he said. "I went out one time in L.A. and so many people just mobbed me and showed me nothing but love.
"You're a fighter and you lose, you feel bad about yourself and you feel that's what people are thinking. I feel I let a lot of people down."
As far as meeting Trinidad "too early," he said "I don't think so. I gave him the fight of his life at 22. After the fight, I heard him say it was his toughest fight."
Trinidad figures to beat William Joppy next week to add the WBA middleweight title to his collection. He has said he would not come back down to 154. Vargas said, okay, he'd go up to 160. "My next fight if he gives me a rematch," he said.
If Vargas abandons his WBA and IBF junior middleweight titles, Vargas would be in line to face Shibata Flores for the vacant WBA championship. He managed Flores until this tricky situation popped up. He said they would be friends, but business is business.
FILLING THE HOUSE: The basketball arena where the fight takes place can hold maybe 11,500 for boxing, said Lester Bedford, who is handling the on-sight arrangements for Main Events. At first, they were hoping for 5,000-6,000, but it now looks like it'll do "anywhere from 9,000 to a sellout," said Bedford. "Vargas is a star."...Vargas said he expected Trinidad to beat Joppy in Don King's middleweight tournament. "I've never seen Joppy beat anyone," he said. "But I'd love to see him against (Bernard) Hopkins (who beat Keith Holmes in the opening unification bout). I won't pick a winner. Hopkins amazes me. He pulls out all kinds of way to win."....Freddie Roach, here with Juan Lazcano, who faces tough old John John Molina in the semifinal, has got Michael Moorer back in the gym....Reason I hear Acelino Freitas pulled out of Showtime twin bill this weekend, where he and Joel Casamayor were to be featured in twin smears, was he was "distraught" over management and girl friends. Take your pick.
SWEET PEA: Pernell Whitaker said he did not overdose on cocaine, but got the shakes because he drank booze while taking codeine for the pain in his left shoulder that ended his brilliant career last week. Whitaker has always denied using drugs. But he has never denied alcohol, which may be the main substance of his abuse. He's 37, not 7. He should know you don't mix painkillers and alcohol.
DON KING GROUNDED: Robert Mittleman spent last weekend in Baltimore with his former fighter Hasim (The Rock) Rahman. He said Don King sent private jet Sunday to take him for talks. The heavyweight champion, Mittleman reported, decided "let's fuck with Don" and told King's emissary, sure, he'd meet him Monday for the flight. On Monday, he instead went to the gym to train for either a rematch with Lennox Lewis (yech) or Mike Tyson (yech). Why doesn't he fight Brian Nielsen so I can get a trip to Copenhagen?
PENTHOUSE OF THE WEEK: Rahman, again. His upset of Lewis was better than just one week's stay.
OUTHOUSE OF THE WEEK: HBO, Main Events and Lennox Lewis for insisting they deserve a rematch, which is against the rules for a good reason. Lewis doesn't deserve anything for the cavalier way he treated sport's biggest prize, for the second time arrogantly thinking all he had to do was show up to win. |
