Vargas Mayorga: Will Fernando Continue Fighting If He Wins?

By Boxing News - 11/22/2007 - Comments

Former two-time light middleweight champion Fernando Vargas (26-4, 22 KOs) is supposedly fighting for the last time on Saturday night against former welterweight/light middleweight champion Ricardo Mayorga (28-6-1, 23 KOs) at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. However, there are many fans out there, including myself, who question whether the 29 year-old Vargas will, in fact, retire should he defeat the 34 year-old Mayorga. To be exact, Vargas appears to be retiring not because he wants to, but rather because he’s no longer winning like was earlier in his career. Indeed, he’s lost his last two fights, both of them to Shane Mosley.

He actually looked good in the first loss to Mosley, and was fighting him close at the time the fight was stopped in the 10th round due to a badly swollen eye for Vargas. In the rematch, though, Vargas looked like had badly declined as a fighter, losing much of his handspeed and power. Mosely made short work of Vargas, taking him out in the 6th round. However, if Vargas does end up beating Mayorga, it would be pretty safe to say that we’ll be seeing Vargas again in the near future against one of the top light middleweights, perhaps even De La Hoya. It would mean one more payday for Vargas, even though he would almost surely get stomped badly.

In truth, there’s not one top junior middleweight I can see Vargas beating other than Mayorga, who likewise is past him prime and on a rapid decline. As impressive as both Mayorga and Vargas were in their prime, they are down right awful in the dying phase of their career, so much so in Mayorga’s case that he was even beaten by an over-the-hill Oscar De La Hoya. Now that’s bad.

Vargas’ decline started long ago, in 2000 when he suffered a brutal 12-round TKO loss to Felix Trinidad. It’s unclear which aspect effected Vargas more – the knockout itself with it’s possible neurological issues or the blow to Vargas’ self confidence. Who knows? It could have been the money that hurt Vargas, as he had a reputation for overeating, which could have effected his training for bouts. Vargas would rebound from the defeat to Trinidad, beating softer opposition before being stopped once again, this time to De La Hoya in 2002. Their fight was close up until the 11th when De La Hoya dropped Vargas with a powerful combination. Little could anyone imagine at the time that Vargas wouldn’t have another meaningful bout for the next four years, until fighting Mosley in 2006. In between then, Vargas fought exclusively easy opposition and looked impressive in doing so.

When he’s fighting smart, Mayorga is a dangerous fighter. The problem is, he hasn’t looked good since winning a 12-round unanimous decision over Michele Piccirillo, a good fighter, in August 2005. Mayorga took on De La Hoya in 2006, and was stopped in the sixth round. He looked horrible in the bout, showing no defense and little handspeed against a badly ring rusty De La Hoya. It was a bout that Mayorga could easily have won if he had fought smart, making an effort to take De La Hoya into the later rounds of the fight. The result, unfortunately for Mayorga, was him getting badly beaten and humiliated by De La Hoya. The loss was made worse by all the fawning behavior on Mayorga’s part afterwards, as he repeatedly apologized to De La Hoya, kissing his hand and trying to make up for his pre-fight behavior.