What went wrong: Fernando Vargas

Vargas was a very good fighter that peaked early. His victory over Wright was a bit of a gift. He fought an amazing, courageous fight against Tito but the brutal loss shattered his mystic and he never came back. The loss to Oscar with the cheating was very damaging.

 

Vargas went overboard with the Aztec Warrior mystique. I seem to recall him being dismissive of Trinidad’s power, prior to the first knockdown.

I’ve always wondered how differently the Tito fight would’ve gone had Vargas Began the fight with a responsible defense and steady jab. Based on the fact that he clawed back into the fight, despite a disastrous first round, I think he could’ve at least made it to the final bell.

 

Vargas even admitted that his macho attitude changed his style for the worse. in a 2003 interview before the Tony Marshall fight:

"I tried to be like Mike Tyson," Vargas said. "I got away from what made me great as an amateur. I didn't do it knocking people out then. I did it by outsmarting people, by outboxing them. If you just box, it makes things easy. "I want to go back to being the old Fernando. I just got a little sidetracked. I'm trying to grow as a fighter. Anybody can bang and be in the line of fire. There is no rule in boxing that says you've got to give [your opponent] a turn. If a fighter keeps on going to war, he can only have so many wars in him."
http://articles.latimes.com/2003/oct/25/sports/sp-boxcol25

Vargas TRIED to box against Trinidad, he just couldn't sustain that style for consistent rounds. Its not who he was as a fighter and he always took too many shots and ended up trading. Vargas was getting blasted with straight rights down the pipe and big left hooks. What was he going to do? Jab and move, in both directions, where he was circling into the power hands from one of the hardest 154lb hitter ever. Plus Trinidad was pressuring, non stop - Vargas did very well with what he had in that fight. Even David Reid who was a smooth boxer with much faster hands was overwhelmed and bulldozed by Trinidad's firepower.

Vargas also didn't have a sophisticated defense. Vs Campas he looked amazing with the footwork and timing, but Campas is lead footed. Vs the true elite his defense was shown to be very lacking, DLH, Quartey, Wright and Trinidad could all touch him and frequently. Vargas biggest victories came from him pressuring and outhustling guys like the close fight with Wright and Quartey. He had to outwork guys to make up for his average hand speed and defense.

 

From 2003 before the Marshall fight:
"I have always had back problems," Vargas said. "In my last training camp, it became unbearable. When I threw a punch, it felt like I had thrown my back out. We did an MRI and they told me I have a bulging disk. "The pain is still there. The pain is always going to be there. But if it's bearable, I can still train. I'm not going to say it's 100% now, but it's better. I have to work through this and fight for my people."

http://articles.latimes.com/2003/oct/25/sports/sp-boxcol25

Its crazy to think that Vargas was only 25 when he was talking like this.

 

His two best victories came from brawling and being the more active fighter. Quartey and Wright set the template for him unfortunately. Vs Quartey he was throwing 100 punches a round into the 10th and 11th rounds. That's very hard to do and Vargas proved to himself that he could outwork top fighters and brought that same mindset vs Tito and ODLH. If I did it twice before against these talented guys well it should work again right? If I'm in trouble just out-throw them and to hell with my defense because I could take the shots. What further compounds these problems is that Vargas's power punch was the left hook. He looked for that shot to back guys up. In doing so he went against the boxing adage "never hook with a hooker". Trinidad and Oscar had awesome left hooks. Even the second Mosely fight was ended on a left hook.

 

This Jay1990 guy obviously has a very limited knowledge of the sport.

Every damn body who knows boxing knows that Vargas' prime was cut short by the beating Trinidad gave him.

He also had back problems, which definitely hastened his decline as the years went by.

 

It seems your question about Vargas is similar to mines about Francisco Bojado.

the majority of the posts here bare's witness that nothing went wrong, just wasn't meant to be?