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April 2000
Each month we bring you a selection of articles from the current and past issues of BOXING MONTHLY. To buy the magazine, see our subscription or back issues pages, or use our world distribution map to find a news-stand copy. Why not use our Interactive Forum to express your own boxing comments and opinions!
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READY OR NOT
Ferocious Fernando Vargas and David Reid had a lot in common: they were both on the USA’s Atlanta Olympic team, both undefeated, and both light-middle champs. But will KO king Fernando go the same way as Reid when he defends against fearsome Ike "Bazooka" Quartey this month? Preview by GRAHAM HOUSTON |
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READY OR NOT: Squaring up in New York
- Get Big Pic The importance of experience was demonstrated graphically when Felix "Tito" Trinidad outclassed David Reid on 3 March. Now comes another
championship match in the same weight class, with a similar scenario, when undefeated light-middleweight champ "Ferocious" Fernando Vargas
defends his International Boxing Federation title against formidable ex-welter champ Ike "Bazooka" Quartey, of Ghana, at the Mandalay Bay Reid, as reported in this issue, seemed to falter mentally after early success against Trinidad and the later rounds became a rout. Vargas, 22, seems unlikely to be intimidated either by Quartey or the
big occasion in this Home Box Office-televised fight, but one can never be sure. This is the first time that Vargas has topped the bill in the
full media spotlight of a major Las Vegas occasion. Meanwhile, Quartey, 30, has seen it all before: been there, done that. He was never beaten for the World Boxing Association welterweight title,
which he defended seven times. The title was declared vacant when Quartey declined to meet a mandatory challenger, Andrei Pestriaev, for
what would not have been a huge purse. Quartey has hammered 29 opponents to defeat inside the distance in a record of 33 wins, a loss and a draw. The draw, against rock-chinned Mexican Jose Luis Lopez, came in a fight that Quartey seemed to win clearly due to early-rounds superiority
although he faded late (he later blamed the lingering effects of a bout with malaria in Ghana). And Quartey firmly believes his only loss, in February of last year against Oscar De La Hoya, was really a win. Even though Quartey was
dropped in the final round (after the fighters had traded knockdowns in the sixth), he will tell you that he had built up so many points that he
could not lose going into the 12th unless he got stopped. One judge — and the American TV commentators — had him winning. So this is the stiffest, by far the most dangerous, test for Vargas as the young champion from southern California steps up the next level of
competition: the big time, in fact. Vargas is favourite (2-1 on at time of writing), and for good reason. He is the younger man, and unbeaten (18 wins in a row, with only one
fight going the distance). Quartey, meanwhile, is older, has been inactive for 14 months and is moving up in weight. But perhaps Quartey will be stronger at 11 stone
(154lbs) than he was when working hard to make the welterweight limit. After all, the Trinidad who fought David Reid was much stronger than the
one who struggled against De La Hoya. We could see something similar with
Quartey. Vargas had to dig deep and needed a strong finish to pull out a narrow win over clever southpaw Ronald "Winky" Wright in his last fight, when
he was not at his best. He blames personal, family problems, unrelated to an assault charge hanging over him, and which he will not discuss.
But he says he has come to terms with the personal difficulties that bothered him going into the bout with Winky Wright. He says he is "up" for the fight with Quartey, looking forward to making the breakthrough into the elite category of fighters. "It’s a marquee fight, definitely," Vargas said over the phone from
his training camp in the mountains at Big Bear, California. "This is the type of fight that will show people the type of fighter that Fernando
Vargas is, that he’s no joke, that he’s for real and that he comes to fight." He has respect for Quartey but says he will not let the more experienced man dictate the fight. "He’s not going to be able to push me
back, I’ll tell you that much," Vargas said. "I’ll be ready. I expect him to try to set me up, but he’ll find something very difficult in
front of him. "I can box if I have to box and I can punch if I have to punch. I do everything to my advantage. You’re going to see a totally focused and
110% physically and mentally Fernando Vargas. "That wasn’t the real Fernando Vargas against Winky Wright. Taking nothing away from Winky Wright, he’s a very tough, very slick southpaw,
great fighter, but everybody knows that’s not Fernando Vargas. "I was there physically, but mentally I wasn’t there. There were times
in that fight when I didn’t even care what happened. I was thinking: ‘All right, if you’re going to beat me, knock me out,’ because the stuff
that I was thinking in my head, I was not even there. I was totally somewhere else. But it’s all right. I showed that when the going gets
tough, Fernando Vargas gets going. He doesn’t just clam up and say: ‘Okay, take it from me.’ No. If somebody’s going to come over here and
take my title, they’ve got to violate me, they’ve got to put me on a stretcher to take what’s mine. "I’ve worked too hard to get where I’m at. I’m not going to give it up." He said that, during the 10th round against Wright, he looked out into the crowd and saw the concerned look on the face of younger siblings. "I
then remembered: ‘Who’s the one taking care of them, putting food in their mouths and clothes on their back? That’s me.’ From that point on,
I just had to pick it up, and I showed what type of fighter Fernando Vargas is when he has to bite down. "If the tables were turned, in the sense that I was there [mentally], things would have been a lot different." His mind will be clear this time, he promises. "The problems are not resolved, and it ain’t legal problems — that’s last on my mind because I
know when that time comes [his trial] I’m going to be fully exonerated. Its a very personal, family problem. But I have had time to mend within
my heart. Time heals all wounds. That’s what I needed. It [the personal matters] hit me the week before I went to go fight. When something like
that happens, you’re not up to it. It doesn’t bother me any more." He has, of course, studied Quartey and knows that the long left jab
can be a problem for the African’s opponents. But he said: "That jab has to hit me. He is shorter than me, and I have a great jab myself. I think
I can neutralise his jab. I think he’s a great fighter, you saw what he did to De La Hoya. But I show with my actions — not with my words — that
Fernando Vargas ducks no fighter, that he takes all the toughest challenges. I hope, after this fight, people give me my due and my
respect that I’m a great champion." He said he sees a few flaws in Quartey that he feels he can exploit but said, reasonably enough: "I’m not going to relay them to you. We
have a game plan, You’re just going to have to wait and see." Quartey has been talking very confidently, just as he did before
meeting De La Hoya, but Vargas said: "It doesn’t worry me. In the ring you can only talk with two things, that’s your left hand and your right
hand. And I’ve been able to talk very efficiently with those. You can say all you want outside the ring, but when you’re in the ring it’s a
totally different thing. I never disrespect any fighter, but in the ring I have no respect for nobody. I think you guys are going to see a
Fernando Vargas that you have not seen physically, mentally and spiritually on April 15th." And he said he will not sport the shaven-skull look that he did for the fight with Winky Wright. "My hair is back — I was like Samson [shorn
version] without it," he said. But while there is no mistaking the upbeat mood coming from Vargas, the Quartey camp is no less sure of victory. Quartey is a man of few words, but he said from training camp in Florida: "I don’t think it will be a long fight if he comes to fight,
but I’m ready for anything that happens, whether he comes to box or comes to fight. Anything goes." He said he is unconcerned about his inactivity, saying: "The layoff won’t affect me because before I fought Oscar I laid off for 16 months
and I won that fight. But I know I have to win convincingly, to make sure. I’ll win the fight, knockout or decision." His adviser, Godwin Asifo, said: "Ike is very, very talented and we see a lot of things in Vargas that we can take advantage of, but we’ll
keep them to ourselves." It does seem, from the general tone of the Quartey camp’s comments, that they feel that Vargas is stepping out of his league here, that this
will be one of those man-against-boy fights. But will it? Vargas showed quickness and sharp hitting when he dominated Yory Boy Campas to become the youngest junior middleweight champ in history at 21
years and five days. He outclassed Raul Marquez, a former champ, in 11 rounds last July. But Campas and Marquez were made for him: slower And although Vargas showed a champion’s heart to grit out the win over Winky Wright at a time when the champion was in emotional turmoil, it
has to be said that Winky is not a heavy-fisted hitter in the manner of Quartey. Although Quartey is moving up a half-stone (7lbs), I see him as the puncher in this fight. But Vargas has speed, zest and burning ambition. Quartey may land the bigger punches, but Vargas can build up points
with quick combinations. The fact that Quartey was down twice against De La Hoya and got tired against Jose Luis Lopez might suggest that Vargas
can begin to hurt him and slow him down from the middle rounds. But Vargas has to be smart, looking to move around Quartey — giving him
angles, as they say. He must not, one would think, stay in one spot and get into exchanges — especially not in the early rounds, when Quartey is
likely to be at his deadliest. This is the latest in a recent run of classic Las Vegas fights in which, outside the respective camps, few can feel terribly certain about
the result. But I believe that Vargas will find a way to win, boxing when he has to box, fighting when he has to fight. It will not be quick
and it certainly will not be easy, but my strong impression is that Vargas is not going to be denied. |
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