Is Fernando Vargas One Of The Best Examples Of A Fighter Ruined Prematurely?

No.

 

No version of Vargas was ever gonna beat Trinidad IMO. He would have had to face Trinidad at some point and the results would still end up the same.

Vargas did well to hold his own against Oscar de la Hoya and Shane Mosley (1) but just fell short. I don't think a more "developed" version of Vargas would ever beat them due to styles. He matched up better against Wright and Quartey.

 

Meldrick Taylor. Ruined at age 23 by Chavez

 

Taylor wasn't rushed he was beating Chavez until getting caught with two seconds of the fight left.

 

Other examples of fighters getting ruined:

Livingstone Bramble, coming off big wins over Ray Mancini and Tyrone Crawley, getting wrecked by Edwin Rosario and was never the same.

Lionel Rose had a terrific run with wins over Fighting Harada, Jose Medel, Chucho Castillo, Alan Rudkin but would then get demolished by Ruben Olivares. He was just 21 when he lost that fight.

 

A little bit of "yes" and also too much machismo and willing to get in to a dog fight with better dogs. Bit he had some quality wins versus Ike, Winky and Marquez.

Whether or not he could have EVER beat tito (Which is NOT the point of this thread clearly), a couple more years of experience under his belt would not have hurt at all.

 

Elaborate...

 

I honestly think they could have waited to have him face Trinidad, and that DLH just three matches later was an even worse choice (even though Vargas earned the biggest purse of his career for that fight, that's fair to say). However I also think Vargas would have always lost to Tito, Oscar, and Shane, simply because they were superior to him. It's sad to see him punch drunk today, not yet 50 years old.

 

Peep my handle

yes

 

I think so. He was never the same fighter after the Trinidad fight. If you compare his fights against Thompson and Rivera, he looked noticeably slower against Wilfredo and even got knocked down and was hurt by a punch that didn’t seem all that heavy. The De La Hoya fight sealed the deal and took away his entire prime.

 

Donald Curry is another prime example of a special fighter who got ruined after one fight. At age 25 Curry was considered for a time as the best fighter P4P alongside Hagler. He was also the best WW after Leonard retired and looked like no one could beat him. And then out of nowhere Lloyd Honeyghan beats Curry in a huge upset and since that fight Curry just couldn't regain that same aura he had prior.

 

Credit to Vargas, he fought the best fighters of his Era. Campas, Wright, Quartey, Trinidad, De Lahoya, Mosley, Mayorga. I’d even say The Raul Marquez fight was a very solid win.

 

Jeff Lacy went from an over hyped but promising champion to a C level fighter after he got slapped up by Calzaghe.

 

Taylor was getting damaged significantly towards the end of the fight, particularly round 10 and 11, which is what impacted his career.