I didn't follow boxing in those times (was very young) however I've seen he fought great fioghters but lost the most important bouts (Mosley, DLH, Trinidad) but beat Quartey and Wright (would you consider they were shot?) was he ever the top light middleweight? Top 10 P4P?
He was not P4P but he could have been, he fought Trinidad to early. He was a top 154pounder. A prime Vargas would beat Canelo & Trout and all the top guys @ 154 today IMO...
apparently he peaked to soon his prime was at were late teens, early 20's apparently but i remember seeing a pic ages ago and thinking WOW This content is protected i wondered how the hell anyone could do that to someone, now i no its them damn roids.
He defeated Wright in a close desicion.Winky didn't do anything in round 12 besides covering up and gave Fernando the victory because of it. Quartey was outboxed and i consider it his best performance. Was thrown to the wolves too often and too early by the Duvas. Probably because they thought he wouldn't last long with his lifestyle outside the ring. Had a short distinguished and spectacular career.
Vargas was good when he was coming up at 154 but not great. His best win was against Quartey I feel but Winky beat him hands down. Vargas could've maybe been HOF worthy if he could've taken a better punch. He had a lot of heart when he was undefeated and I used to enjoy his fights.
People say he took the trinidad fight too early but no one turns down a $10m payday, especially a fighter with a attitude like fernando vargas.
A young Vargas vs current Canelo would have been a perfect match. PPV material (200k plus) if you rate it according to today standard.
Very exciting to watch one of my favourite fighters back before he became damaged goods. Decent power, good combination puncher and work rate. But as others have said he was ruined by trinidad in a great fight and after that his punch resistance never recovered
Had a bulging disk. Still trained throught the pain. Good fighter, could have done more with better disipline and no back probs. This coming from a guy who disliked Vargas very much. I always went against him.
Took Oscar to the brink in a real battle, a PPV attraction where the fighters actually went to war not a one sided predetermined result like today Vargas was cut from a different cloth and his nickname was accurate seeing the fat shell of Vargas vs Mayora was a let down but the fight was still very good