I think that Fernando Vargas had a great career while it lasted ... he accomplished alot in such a short time. He will be remember'd for many wars/battles with some all-time great fighters. I know that he has fought and been competetive with atleast 5 hall of fame fighters throughout his career. He was the youngest super welterweight or junior middleweight champion in the history of the division and one of the youngest world champions in boxing history. He won his first world title, just as fast (but not quite) as PBF Mayweather, winning a title within his first two years as a pro ... under 20 fights ... and in his prime had a pretty high KO ratio ... Thoughts in reflecting Vargas' career???
He was on the verge of super-stardom when he fought Trinidad. He took a huge gamble in fighting such a great fighter in his prime but the reward would have been worth it. It didn't pay off for him unfortunately, the way I see it Vargas went "all in" against Trinidad, he would have either come out on top on his way to the hall of fame or end up being nothing more than a bleep on the boxing history radar. What could have been...I will always wonder.
Great warrior, great champion, and he truly loved and appreciated his fans. One of my all time favorites! By the way, he was about to KO Tito when Tito intentionally punched him in the nuts!
My thoughts exactly.....He was turning the fight!!!! U can tell Fernando was starting to settle into his gameplan.
Fernando was a VERY GOOD fighter...... I dont know what happend to him, I heard he had medical problems or something, but he was VERY GOOD before he lost to DLH/TITO (NO SHAME TO BE HAD, THEY ARE BOTH LEGENDS). I see him as a fighter who, was veryyyyyyyyyy good, but wasnt able to compete with the greats (tito,oscar,mosley ect))) I would put his career somwhere next to wrights ect...
His corner should have pulled him earlier in the Trinidad fight. I say around the 8th or 9th round. Because Trinidad teed off on his ass in the late rounds which ultimately ruined him as a fighter.
He was a very good fighter, I do think Main Events rushed him, they might've thought he was too much of a headcase and would get into trouble (beating people up with golf clubs and all) so they moved him fast. I remember thinking that a guy with only 20 pro fights was pretty inexperienced to take on someone of Trinidad's caliber. Vargas took a lot of punishment in a short period of time, with of course the Trinidad beating being the standout one. Wright, Quartey, and De La Hoya were all also grueling fights. I sort of liken the Trinidad fight to Meldrick Taylor fighting Julio Cesar Chavez in the sense that although both guys were still very formidable afterwards, they were never 100% of what they had been (with Taylor having more success afterwards than Vargas, moving up and winning a world title). He made a nice comeback from the early KDs in that fight, but Tito turned it back around late in round 6 and kept catching Vargas with hard shots. I didn't like the fact that Jay Nady let it go on after the 2nd KD of the 12th. He was out of it, barely acknowledged Nady when he asked him to come forward. While Vargas lacked the speed and athleticism of other guys, I liked some of the technique he showed, like keeping his punches short and tight so they wouldn't have to travel as much distance.
Yeah, I remember that. "About to KO" him is a bit of a stretch, but he'd scored the KD and had Tito distressed. I remember the commentators saying it was a clever tactic to buy recovery time, El Feroz said the same after the fight... Then Zab tried it on Money Mayweather a couple of years later and **** went bananas! Tito/Vargas was an absolute classic. Those two mother****ers delivered, big time! Great stuff.
:deal After his first 17 fights he faced Winky, Quartey and Tito within a year!! Imagine someone fighting that standard that early these days!
Memorable but unfortunately will probably always be looked at as a second tier fighter. Shame BTW Wright >>>> Vargas by a distance
