DE LA HOYA-VARGAS POST-FIGHT ANALYSIS

September 16, 2003 - by Bert Sugar

It was a fight for those with an eye for boxing delicacies, with enough flows and eddies to disturb the wits, one which gave those watching it a chance to maltreat their lungs and those covering it an opportunity to reassess Oscar De La Hoya's place in boxing history. From the time the bout was made, those gazetteers of Scotch & soda pondered the many angles to the De La Hoya vs. Vargas match up: Could De La Hoya bring his punch "north" with him, having started as a junior lightweight and now fighting as a junior middle? Could Vargas overcome the beating he took from Trinidad? Was De La Hoya really dedicated to his boxing career or did he have other concerns such as his singing career or show biz? Would Vargas be able to handle his emotions that seemed to consume him and not incidentally, gave the fight its nickname, "Bad Blood" with Fernando spouting enough bad blood to start an epidemic? And what would Oscar's year-plus vacation from the ring mean?

All of that pre-fight hype was merely hors d' oeuvre for what would be one helluva fight, one which surpassed even the build-up and put itself into contention for "Fight of the Year."

The two combatants began their ring walks into the Mandalay Bay arena to a vague roar of almost subterranean quality at first, then erupting into a full-throated bellow. You knew that the partisan fans of the two were "into" this fight with the crowd almost equally divided, the fans of De La Hoya looking as if they were there for a Back Street Boys concert, the Vargas contingent looking as if they had just come from an Oakland Raiders game.

As referee Joe Cortez brought the two to center ring for their last minute instructions, you were struck by the size difference, with Vargas looking like a participant in the Mr. Universe pageant, his body looking as if it had been made by Fisher and De La Hoya looking like an overgrown welterweight. This despite the fact that both had weighed in at 154 pounds, the limit for the WBA Junior Middleweight division and the WBC Super Welterweight division.

The size difference would tell in the very first round as Vargas outmuscled De La Hoya, forcing him into the ropes and falling on him like a heated Banshee as Oscar got entangled in the ropes and simultaneously tried to extricate himself and evade Vargas' incoming punches. Many of Vargas' body shots landed before De La Hoya could take the fight back to center ring where he began working his jab. It was to go that way for the first five rounds: Vargas winning the fight on the ropes, De La Hoya in center ring with Vargas having the upper hand early, outstrengthening De La Hoya.

Even as Vargas was carrying the early rounds it appeared as if like the pyromaniac who had sneezed on his last match, he was blowing his last chance. By this time, de La Hoya had taken the fight to mid-ring and was working his jab like a light switch, finding Vargas' right eye - evidence of an injury that would later be diagnosed as a fractured occipital bone - and landing with his long absent right hand.

With his mouth hanging open and his chances flowing down like flour out of a chute, Vargas still rallied in the ninth and the beginning of the tenth. De La Hoya, who had taken all of Vargas' rights to the body in the early rounds was showing the effect by now, stepping away with his lead foot, something only a fighter hurt to the body does.

The fight turned quickly again, this time on one punch. With scant seconds remaining in the tenth, Oscar feinted with a left jab and when Vargas moved his head to the right, De La Hoya came in with a left hook which landed and sounded like an explosion, landing squarely on Vargas' jaw. Vargas wobbled in the breeze, looking much like a marionette with its strings cut. Before De La Hoya could follow, the bell rang, ending round ten.

One of the three judges, Patricia Jarman scored that tenth round 10-10 in spite of the left by De La Hoya, a left that ESPN's Max Kellerman said "ended the fight then and there" and who scored it 10-8. Her scoring which had Vargas ahead by three points after the tenth left more than something to be desired.

The end had already been written, albeit not yet in indelible ink. As Vargas peddled backward to stave off the inevitable, De La Hoya caught him with a bodacious left hook, sending him sprawling onto the canvas about a minute into the 11th.

Fernando bravely and eagerly nodded to referee Joe Cortez to say that he was okay to continue as De La Hoya moved aggressively in again on the still badly hurt Vargas. As De La Hoya pressed onward at Vargas, he backed Fernando back into the corner. Vargas’s only defense was moving and ducking repeatedly trying to stay away from the flurries of straight right and left hands that De La Hoya was throwing.

FIGHTERS	De La Hoya	Vargas
TOTAL PUNCHES
Thrown	660	525
Connected	281	227
%	43%	43%
JABS
Thrown	423	136
Connected	171	59
%	40%	43%
POWER PUNCHES
Thrown	237	389
Connected	110	168
%	46%	43%
JUDGES SCORECARDS
Jarman-Manning	94	97
Smith	96	94
Tucker	96	94

As Vargas stumbled from one corner and into another still badly hurt, it was there that De La Hoya unleashed nearly twenty unanswered shots rocking the head of Vargas who stood dazed in the corner with barely enough stamina left to keep his hands up. Joe Cortez jumped in to rescue Vargas at 1.48 of the final eleventh round.

Vargas sustained a serious beating as De La Hoya landed 23 of 33 power shots in the 11th. As the referee jumped in to save the beaten fighter, De La Hoya spit out his mouthpiece and threw his hands up in the air rejoicing as he ran back into the neutral corner before going to his knees in utter disbelief and celebration. Floyd Mayweather, Sr. rushed into the ring to hug his victorious fighter as Vargas sat rocked on his stool with his cornermen.

When Vargas got up from his stool and heard Oscar De La Hoya announced victorious by Michael Buffer, he exited the ring quickly and did not stay around for any post fight interviews. Looking shaken and badly beaten, Vargas left the ring with his cornermen and went straight to his dressing room without making any congratulatory visit to the corner of De La Hoya thus holding onto the "Bad Blood" billing of the fight.

Vargas visited the hospital after the fight for a precautionary checkup and was not involved in any immediate post fight interviews. As De La Hoya was interviewed with Bob Arum standing near, De La Hoya appeared to be reinvigorated and inspired to get back in the ring soon to "secure his legacy in boxing" and to avenge his losses to either Sugar Shane Mosley and/or possibly Felix (Tito) Trinidad should he come out of retirement to fight again.

Oscar De La Hoya had paid the last installment on his dues for greatness with as great an effort as he has ever shown in the ring. An effort which erased the embarrassment of his last three rounds against Trinidad and which not only maintained his status as the ATM machine in the middle weight classes but once again placed him among the best "Pound for Pound" fighters in the world today.