Was Fernando Vargas' Career a Disappointment?

He was matched very tough, very early. Wright, Quartey and Trinidad in quick succession - that’s tough.

I always felt he needed a bit more time to bounce back from the Trinidad loss but he went into the fight with Oscar after being out of the ring a year and after that, it was pretty much over at 24. A little bit like Mando Ramos.

 

For him it was but when you realistically look at his ability I think he did alright. Perhaps you could say he's lucky to be managed by the Duvas to get a shot at weak beltholder at 154. Vargas was a good fighter but in another era he may not have ever been called champion.

Vargas had pretty good power. Good body puncher, pretty nice boxing skills when he went into that mode. His quickness was slightly above average and he had a good chin until it got cracked..big heart though I appreciated the fact that he came to fight and didn't do what Oscar did much of the time and play it safe.

He won a coupe belts at 54. Made some $ and was never gonna beat the legend Trinidad at '54. Anything after that bout was a broken fighter. Physically and mentally.

 

Good post!

Beating Quartey was huge, despite Ike's long layoff since the DeLaHoya fight. That really put things in motion.

Trinidad-Vargas: What a fight to end the year with!! 2000 was a great year for boxing, a great year for life in general with the new century and all. Personally I partied hard that year. But I digress...

 

I think he did about what he was going to do. I don't think a year or two more seasoning changes any of the results in his career. I think his defensive style was limited, too upright/tight but not built to absorb impact like Winky Wright was, just took everything flush. He also pulled straight back with his gloves out a lot. When the punches were flowing, he looked good, but I found him to be pretty stiff otherwise. I think he only had a few consistent ways to land punches outside of exchanges as well. Underrated jab, super tough, seemed to always get clipped bad by the left hook. He had trouble mixing offense and defense. His head movement and defensive ability only showed when it was honestly too late and he was already on the way out.

 

Trinidad ruined him. He was never the same after that. I tend to judge his career up to & including that fight. He beat Winky, dominated Quartey and was involved in a classic with Tito. I’d say that’s a damn good career but maybe you could say before he lost, he has the look of a potential superstar and HOF guy and he didn’t get there.

 

I never knew that he was highly touted

 

And nuts.

 

People say he was rushed which he may of been, but he was battle tested vs Quartey, Wright, in tough fights. So you can't say he wasn't prepared for a tough 12 rounder vs Tito.

But I don't see him ever beating the likes of Tito, ODLH. And I don't believe he was ruined by Tito either, Vargas's performance in the ODLH fight suggests otherwise. He had some nice scalps vs Wright, Quartey, etc. And I guess he could of fought some easier opposition padding his record more before fighting Tito, ODLH. Would that have made a difference ? Not really IMO other than making his stats look a bit better.

 

His performance in the DelaHoya fight? As I recall Fernando got roided up, almost bodybuilding to an extent. He was sluggish, slower than usual and had no snap on his punches. He tried to maul Oscar but DelaHoya seemed in control of that fgiht.

 

Yeah, his career was the definition of a "supernova" career. He burned extremely brightly but burned far too fast and had nothing left.

 

I thought Vargas did well in the ODLH fight, and was winning for large periods in the fight early on. Until ODLH started to turn it around late on.