By Sean Jones: Former 154-lb world champion Fernando Vargas called out Oscar De La Hoya on Monday, telling him to “make it happen” for the two to meet in a rematch in 2021. Vargas (26-5, 22 KOs) has been training, and he’s trimmed his weight down considerably.
The 43-year-old former IBF/WBA junior middleweight champion Vargas wants a second shot against De La Hoya (39-6, 30 KOs) to avenge his eleventh round knockout loss that he suffered against him in September 2002.
De La Hoya is talking about coming out of retirement to fight a big name, possibly Gennadiy Golovkin. He hasn’t mentioned wanting to fight any of his retired foes like Fernando, Felix Trinidad, or Shane Mosley.
Vargas’s career was never the same after his loss to De La Hoya, and he ended up losing his last three fights to Shane Mosley and Ricardo Mayorga.
If Vargas is serious about wanting to fight De La Hoya again, he will need to lose more weight. He appears to be 30+ pounds overweight, and he’s going to need to trim that off.
Vargas tells De La Hoya: “Let’s make it happen”
“Oscar, let’s do this, everybody wants to see that,” said Fernando Vargas to Fighthype about a rematch with Oscar De La Hoya.
“Yeah, everybody wants to see that again. Yeah, let’s make it happen. It’s an exhibition. We’re friends now, it’s all good. Let’s make it happen.
Look, sober five years. God took it away from me. I’m not going to say it’s me. God took it away from me. I cried to God to take away this vice.
“He took it away. I’m five years sober, in the gym Monday through Friday. I’m lifting weights. I don’t run, but if Oscar says, ‘Yes,’ I’ll start running. It’s an exhibition, come on. Let’s make it happen.
“The public wants to see it, Oscar. Let’s make it happen. We’re friends now. Let’s go,” said Vargas in asking De La Hoya for a rematch.
Vargas (26-5, 22 KOs) is one of De La Hoya’s biggest wins of his career and one he’s most proud of. De La Hoya wouldn’t go wrong in giving Vargas a rematch if he can get his weight down.
There are still many boxing fans who would like to see De La Hoya and Vargas fight one more time. Both fighters retired around the same time. Vargas hung up his gloves in 2007 after a 12 round majority decision to Ricardo Mayorga in a competitive fight.
For his part, De La Hoya looked less impressive than Vargas in getting stopped by Manny Pacquiao by an eighth-round knockout in 2008. The Vargas that we saw against Mayorga would have beaten the De La Hoya that Pacquiao dominated.