Vargas was never the same after his fight with Felix. I'm not going to get into a debate about it- he simply wasn't. Prior to that bout Vargas was looking great. His fight with Quartey was a great performance. He moved and threw combinations. I always wondered if Vargas had fought De LA Hoya after this bout would the outcome have been any different?
Like the others I'm not as inclined to take Vargas' decline after losing to Felix as a given. Its a standard mantra on these types of forums and among boxing writers but I don't take it as a self-evident article of faith. I mean, he wasn't visibly gun shy after getting knocked out and he didn't become radically chinny all of a sudden. Yes, he was knocked out by Oscar, but that was in the 11th, after taking a ton of damage and being fatigued. What did Fernando in more than those two knockouts was 1.) a seriously bad back and 2.) a serious lack of self-control between fights, which caused him to balloon up in weight and then spend his camp struggling to lose weight (also, being overweight isn't so good for back injuries). The Trinidad loss was brutal, but El Feroz was young enough and confident enough to turn the page and rebound psychologically.
Theres a reason why DLH CHOSE to fight Vargas when he did. DLH, like everyone else, knew that Vargas wasn't going to recover from that Tito beating and when he saw Wilfredo Rivera drop Vargas on his face he knew it was time to pounce.
Vargas just seemed different then he was prior to Tito. Being young has nothing to do with recovering from a severe beating. Im not a fan of either but if Vargas fought Oscar after Quartey I think it would have been a completely different bout.
