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Pastimes : Boxing: The Sweet Science -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: mr.mark who wrote (3640)	5/6/2001 10:03:29 AM
From: Bwe	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10489

mark, My take away from the fight is this "chin" problem that Vargas now has is going to be a career long issue. It wasn't a congenital thing though. Vargas can thank Tito for it. Now, if Vargas gets hit right, and that is something that's always a possibility because he's so offensive minded and is always in the pocket so to speak, he's going down. Trinidad dented his chin forever. Kind of like what Big George did to Joe Frazier. Prior to that fight, Frazier had a granite jaw. After that fight, Frazier was susceptible to being hurt if caught right at any time in a bout. For Vargas' foes though, keeping him down and putting him out is another matter completely. Vargas is a very tough guy. And he's one of the best offensive fighters in the game. Rivera was very tricky in there and gets off his punches quickly and sharply. More importantly, Rivera was there to win last night. He was far from an opponent. Vargas put some real hurt on him and gave him a pretty severe beating. I have to disagree with The HBO crew on Vargas' choosing too tough a guy and coming back too soon after the Trinidad loss. This was a good fight for Vargas. Should Vargas have waited a year and fought some soft touch he would've KO'd in 2 rds for a confidence builder? The chin issue would've been exposed in a big fight situation instead somewhere down the line. Better that he learn now and focus on improving his defense to be better prepared for a big fight down the line. Bruce

To: mr.mark who wrote (3640)	5/6/2001 10:04:53 AM
From: Bwe	Respond to of 10489

You were right on, mark.

To: mr.mark who wrote (3640)	5/6/2001 10:55:57 AM
From: LPS5	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 10489

Weak win for Vargas by Michael Rosenthal Staff Writer EL PASO, Texas - If all Fernando Vargas wanted to do was get in some rounds and win after his devastating knockout loss to Felix Trinidad in December, he succeeded. If he wanted to look particularly good doing it, well ... Vargas beat Wilfredo Rivera as expected, stopping the veteran Puerto Rican 39 seconds into the sixth round before 9,212 wildly pro-Vargas fans at the Don Haskins Center. However, his performance was anything but spectacular. Vargas (21-1, with 19 knockouts) said he would fight carefully but with purpose against his well-schooled, accomplished opponent, and he did. The first round was relatively uneventful. The second round was shocking. Rivera, not known for his power, rocked Vargas with a short right hand that put the Oxnard resident down and hurt him badly. Vargas staggered to his feet, facing away from Rivera as he tried to regain his senses and the fight soon resumed. It was an eerie moment, shades of the Trinidad fight when Vargas went down five times. A silence overcame the arena as everyone wondered whether Rivera would finish the job. "I got caught cold in the second round," Vargas said. "You know me, though. You gotta take me out on a stretcher (to stop me)." Inexplicably, Rivera (32-5-1, 20 KO's) failed to follow up even though Vargas appeared still to be dazed. He fought almost defensively, which gave Vargas time to recover. After that, Vargas, clearly the stronger of the two, wore Rivera down with his aggressive, balanced attack. Rivera, 32, was cut below his eye in the third round and above it in the fourth. His face quickly became a bloody, swollen mess. And, ultimately, the rest of him followed. Vargas, pressuring his weakening opponent, finally put Rivera down with a combination to the body and head early in the sixth and, after he got up, followed with a flurry of punches as Rivera leaned against the ropes. At that moment, Rivera seemed to signal to his corner that he was too hurt to continue. His manager, Bob Mittleman, then threw in the towel. Rivera, who had fought only twice in almost two years before Saturday, was taken to a hospital shortly after the fight for a CT scan. "He's a warrior and he's very strong," said Rivera, who had been stopped only by Oscar De La Hoya (eighth round) and Shane Mosley (10th). "I boxed, but he's strong." Said Mittleman: "He didn't put on enough pressure. He didn't finish (Vargas) off when he had the chance. I'm not going to let him get hurt." Vargas was pleased afterward. He seemed to realize it wasn't a dazzling performance _ he said several times he's "young (23), a work in progress" _ but tried to put it in perspective. "I wanted to try and prove a point," he said, "that I didn't go nowhere and I showed that. "... I proved I'm not like David Reid (who hasn't been the same since he was knocked out by Trinidad) and other fighters. I'm here and I'm going to be champion again."