 The Worldwide Boxing Magazine Site |
Got your free t-shirt yet? |
| articles from the magazine ... |
|
November 2001
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!
|
 |
REHAB IS GO FOR EL FEROZ Vargas continued to rebuild with a win over former sparmate Shibata Flores, but there’s still plenty of work to be done before the light-middle champ gets back into the superfight picture. GRAHAM HOUSTON reports from Las Vegas |
|
VARGAS celebrates victory as boxing made its comeback folowing the NYC terrorist attack
- Get Big Pic Clearly, Fernando Vargas is not quite all the way back to where he was before last December’s hammering by Felix “Tito” Trinidad — but he could be getting there, Vargas looked all too easy hit with long-range punches and was even briefly a bit wobbly before knocking out Jose “Shibata” Flores, his former sparmate, in the seventh round of their light-middle title fight at the Mandalay Bay casino resort in Las Vegas on 22 September. A certain slowness in getting out of the way of punches was the negative aspect of his performance. The positive? Well, he rallied to take charge after a somewhat shaky start, which showed once more his mental toughness. And one had to appreciate the intelligent manner in which he broke his man down with a body battering that led to the finish, as a mentally and physically spent Flores sat out referee Joe Cortez’s count with, officially, one second remaining in round seven. It was not vintage Vargas, as he himself admits, but it thrilled the crowd of 4,700 and it was good enough to get the job done — convincingly — as he captured the vacant World Boxing Association 11st (154lbs) title that Trinidad relinquished. (Vargas also picked up the vacant IBA championship so that he’d have one belt each for his two “cubs”, as he calls his young sons.) Afterwards, Vargas, to his credit not entirely happy with his performance, said that he feels he needs to be more active after just three fights in 13 months. He talked of having some easy non-title bouts in between the big fights on his Home Box Office TV contract, and he promised to stay in the gym — the way he did when he first turned professional — so that his weight will not shoot up. The 23-year-old from Oxnard in southern California has retained the services of conditioning coach John Philbin, whose input helped contribute to the toned physique that Vargas exhibited. Vargas gave himself only a “C” grade for his showing, which seemed a little harsh although he admits to being a perfectionist. What is important, though, is that Vargas seems determined to do all the right things as he builds towards another megafight, perhaps with southern California rival Oscar De La Hoya. If the Golden Boy is unavailable, Vargas says he will be glad to take on Ronald “Winky” Wright in a rematch. He wishes to reclaim the IBF title that he lost to Trinidad. (It was considered a formality that Wright would defeat Robert Frazier for the title at Indio, California, on 12 October.) Now, taking on Winky Wright is definitely risky. Vargas barely eked out a win when the two fought in December 1999. But Vargas seems willing and even eager too meet the best boxers available in his weight class — and that most certainly includes Wright, the clever and seasoned southpaw who has won three times in Britain. Although Flores, like Winky, is a southpaw, that’s where the similarity ends. Flores is a journeyman slugger-type who although astonishingly ranked No. 1 at 11st (154lbs) by the WBA never looked to be in Vargas’s class. That was shown by the odds of 10-1 on Vargas in the host casino. Those who backed Flores must have been encouraged when he made a purposeful start, but he was put in his place when a left-hook counter dropped him to one knee in the second. From then on it was practically all Vargas, with Flores’s rallies becoming fewer and increasingly futile. Vargas took his time, but when he had his man going in the seventh he showed no mercy. Certainly Vargas has made up some lost ground after the shaky showing in his last fight before meeting Flores, when he was dropped by supposedly average-punching Wilfredo Rivera in May. Some observers of that fight had wondered if Ferocious Fernando’s career might be seriously faltering, even though he eventually overpowered Rivera in the sixth. But, against Flores, there was an improvement although doubts remain. Vargas was outhustled in the first round and his legs went a bit unsteady on him in the second after Shibata cracked him with a right hook from out of that southpaw style. But then Vargas turned things around with the left hook that put Flores down in the same round. Two of the three judges made the second only a 10-9 round in Vargas’s favour instead of the “traditional” 10-8 when a knockdown is scored, but Fernando had made his point. Vargas showed a commitment to body punching and he was heavy-handed with the digs downstairs, especially the straight rights that slammed though the middle of Flores’s guard. He produced some nice moves as he slid around the southpaw or launched quick, fierce attacks. Vargas is a quality fighter, even when not at his absolute best. His boxing wasn’t as sharp as when he outpointed Ike Quartey and stopped Yory Boy Campas and Raul Marquez, but there were signs that he might be getting back to that sort of form. But as this report was being written Vargas faced the prospect of a three-month prison term for an assault conviction — an inconvenience he could well do without, because it is so glaringly apparent that he needs to be in the boxing gym and picking up the pace in his career. He was hit too easily by the sometimes lunging, downright awkward punches of his opponent. At times Shibata, 29, simply lowered his head and swung wildly. Vargas should never have got hit by blows such as these. Yet one should point out that there were contributory factors — not least that he is on friendly terms with Shibata and they have boxed so many rounds together in the gym, making it hard to get “up” for the fight. “I know Shibata, and I consider him a friend,” he said afterwards. “I had to get myself psyched up and think into my head that I didn’t know him. “I had to be in there a step ahead of him because Shibata knows me — he knows a lot of the stuff that I do, a lot of the moves that I was trying to counter off him. “After I lost to Trinidad I thought the world had ended. I’m a perfectionist and I always think about, you know, what I got to do next to be back on top. “I want to keep active. I worked hard, I stayed in the gym [for this fight], and that’s what I’m gonna continue to do. Us Mexicans, we have fat genes, you know, we love to eat, tortillas, frijoles, and it’s just beautiful food but it doesn’t go with us — not with a fighter. So I’m gonna stay in the gym, stay sharp. “I still feel that I coulda done a lot better. I give myself a C. I think that there’s a lot of things that I could have done right and which is all gonna come together, because I analyse things, too. “Before [he won the title], I never used to stop. It’s like, one fight after another fight, I was back into the gym and I was back into the ring and I stayed sharp, and that’s what I want to continue to do now, even if they’re easy fights. I want to go out there, take care of business and be active.”Vargas’s inactivity showed in a slightly tentative opening round, which Shibata won on all three judges’ cards. But Flores got away from the pre-fight plan of using the jab and being careful in the early rounds. He was finding it too easy to hit Vargas. So he went in, let his hands go and got caught by the left hook. I think that, at that moment, Shibata psychologically went back to being the sparring partner that he has been for so long. He still had some good moments, and judge Jerry Roth (the only judge to give Vargas a 10-8 round in the second) rather surprisingly gave Shibata the fourth. But by the fifth it seemed to me as if Flores was fighting just to stay in the fight — to put up a respectable showing — rather than fighting to win. All three judges, of course, had Vargas clearly in front after six rounds. Jerry Roth had it 58-55, judge Bill Graham saw it 59-54 and Dave Moretti made it 59-55. In the sixth, Flores looked as if he had had enough. He was under pressure, backed up on the ropes, when the bell came to his rescue. Judge Bill Graham made this a 10-8 round in favour of Vargas. All it took was one more sustained assault from Vargas and the show was over — and that is exactly what happened in the seventh. Shibata went down of his own volition after taking punches with his back to the ropes, and you just knew he had no intention of getting up. It was an exciting finish — a fists pumping, ruthless, it’s-over-now attack. Vargas’s fans loved it. And even if we cannot yet be sure that Vargas is the force he used to be, it’s good to have him back where he belongs, in the midst of the big-fight picture. |
|
Also available to read from issue:
|
|
On sale on the last Thursday of every month Ensure you never miss a copy . . . buy your subscription or back issues here. |