Fight fans like to see their champions overcome adversity. De la Hoya did just that against Fernando Vargas, who proved himself to be every bit a worthy challenger to De la Hoya's supremacy. As the fighters met at center ring to begin their long-awaited showdown, De la Hoya opened up first, bursting quick punches to Vargas' sides and peppering him with a stiff jab. As Vargas patiently waited for a counter opportunity, De la Hoya's handspeed advantage swept the first half of the round. Pumping his jab equally at Vargas' nose and navel, De la Hoya wasted no time showing why bookmakers had installed him as a -270 betting favorite in a pick 'em fight. But De la Hoya's flashy flurries were not accompanied by his usual floating footwork, and after only 90 seconds of action, Vargas was able to time De la Hoya with a crisp counter right hand. Thirty seconds later, Vargas would back De la Hoya to the ropes with a pair of right hands to the side. Back to the ropes, Oscar ducked a short Vargas hook and his feet slipped out from under him. He fell back between the middle ropes and Vargas pounced. Fernando clipped De la Hoya with two power shots as he tried to untangle himself from the ropes. As the crowd cheered with approval, Vargas kept De la Hoya pinned against the strands and began firing his best shots. At first, De la Hoya assumed a Mayweather-esque pose (right hand over right cheek, left hand at right elbow, left shoulder tucked over chin) and tried to roll with Vargas' shots. But a Vargas hook and then straight right caught De la Hoya flush. Oscar tried to move to his left, but Vargas was on top of him, trapping him now in a corner. Vargas hammered De la Hoya with another straight right and a few shots that only caught Oscar on the arms. As De la Hoya pushed out towards center ring, Vargas punched him back to the ropes with three hard left hooks to the face. Those shots contributed to a large red scrape on De la Hoya's right cheek, a contusion partially blocked by the growling grin De la Hoya flashed at Vargas when the bell sounded. First round to Fernando.
And so each fighter's objective became clear: Oscar would try and keep the bout at center ring where he could use angles and occasional movement while Vargas would try and bull De la Hoya to the ropes, where short power shots and a smothering offense could be most effective. Round three started at center ring with De la Hoya again double jabbing downstairs and up with great effect. But another Vargas counter right found its target and again sent De la Hoya into retreat mode. This time, Vargas got in his shot early, and most of the rest of the round saw De la Hoya moving from one set of ropes to another while Vargas pounded his sides, arms and shoulders. De la Hoya's attempts to roll with Vargas' shots worked occasionally, but also left him open for the occasional face shots Vargas began to land in the round. Appearing too wary of Vargas' power to fight his way off the ropes, De la Hoya instead tried merely to survive. The result was a big Vargas round in which Oscar started to look visibly concerned with his inability to hold off his stronger opponent.
Vargas' corner insisted that he needed to be the one setting the pace, and so El Feroz came out in round five and immediately chopped De la Hoya with an overhand right. Vargas followed with another busting right hand, and De la Hoya answered with a flat-footed hook-cross answer. Vargas answered the answer with two more right hands of his own, the second of which bloodied De la Hoya's nose. For a fight that was mostly based on strategy, timing, and sweet science, this brutal exchange stood out in the bout as a reminder that these two guys didn't like each other. Both guys were swinging for the fences with singular power shots... and landing. This was most certainly a fight. De la Hoya seemed instantly distracted by the red moustache he had suddenly grown. As he again retreated until his back touched ropes, he blew blood out of his nose in short bursts and pawed at the mess several times. Vargas came alive at the sight of his rival's blood and again began pounding Oscar on the ropes. For over a minute, De la Hoya again slid along the edge of the ring while Vargas followed him with effective punches. De la Hoya had no answer from this ring position, and Vargas was really letting him have it. In the fifth round, De la Hoya took more clean hooks and crosses to the chin that he had in his fights with Mosley and Trinidad combined. When the round finally ended, a bloody and confused De la Hoya returned to his corner, where even more chaos was underway. Floyd Mayweather, Sr. may have panicked a bit, as Oscar's instructions before round six were frantically screamed while De la Hoya looked like he was seeking more sound advice in his own head.
As the second half of the bout began, fans started scanning the fighters for fatigue. And while De la Hoya was the one who came into the ring with a reputation for fading down the stretch, it seemed that it was Vargas who had lost a half-step in the speed department. De la Hoya opened round seven by again moving, but punching at Vargas with more determination. As Vargas diligently pursued, De la Hoya continued to jab to the head, pound the body, and give Vargas angles. At mid-round, Oscar cracked into Vargas with a solid hook. The punch stopped Vargas in his tracks. Oscar waited a beat, then fired a massive lead right hand. Oscar has used his right with surprising effectiveness in a few recent bouts, but now he was really turning the punch over and hurting Vargas with it. After another beat, Oscar timed another single lead right, again smacking Vargas hard on the jawline and drawing a huge pop from the crowd. Whether through confidence or a bit of exhaustion of his own (De la Hoya had been maintaining a blistering pace for most of the night), De la Hoya ended the round by fighting Vargas with both hands down at his waist. Vargas tried to capitalize, but seemed too thrown off by De la Hoya's heavy right hands. While he tried to figure out an answer to Oscar's adjustment, he rarely threw a punch.
With the fight still too close to call, but starting to shift towards De la Hoya, Vargas needed to rally. Focusing on De la Hoya's right side, Vargas began throwing low right hands at Oscar's ribs. After a few such shots, De la Hoya's hands again began swinging low. After a few more, De la Hoya again found himself retreating to the ropes, the one place he did not want to be. Vargas crossed De la Hoya's chin with a couple of beautiful right hands early in the round, but he was not as fresh as he had been in the first part of the fight. While Vargas still maintained the advantage with De la Hoya trapped in corners, Vargas' punches were starting to look slower and come less frequently. Still, his efforts in round nine were more than enough bank him a round and keep his chances alive. Vargas felt he had finally solved the problem of De la Hoya's right by digging his own right to the body, and in round ten he continued to dig to the ribs. While Oscar continued to add minor swelling to Vargas' face with the jab, Vargas was starting to answer with jabs of his own. Both men were landing punches, but Vargas caught a brief second wind and began to show more signs of life as the round wore on. For his part, De la Hoya was now picking his spots more carefully. Sometimes he would throw a flurry quickly, other times he would commit harder to a smaller combination. His harder shots were landing clean, but Vargas was still being the more effective fighter in the round overall. As the ten-second clapper sounded, Vargas looked like he had banked another important round at a time when the fight was up for grabs. But with five seconds left to go, De la Hoya threw three short punches to the ribs and ended the combination with an upstairs hook. The punch landed right on the base of Vargas' jaw. Vargas took a quarter step back and began doing the noodle dance: that incontrollable full-body shake that comes only when your central nervous system is temporarily on the fritz. The crowd erupted with a deafening cheer, but De la Hoya could not land a follow-up shot before the bell sounded. The punch not only flipped a Vargas round to De la Hoya's column, but changed the entire course of the evening. Vargas appeared to be rallying, but now he sat slumped in his corner, blinking feverishly as his seconds dumped ice water over his head.
The punch lifted Vargas off his feet. He flew backwards, his entire body floating above the canvas before he landed on his tailbone and smacked the back of his head on the floor. As he has in the Trinidad fight, Vargas popped up immediately. But he was so shaken that even the fans could see the stars he was dancing around his head. Joe Cortez completed a mandatory eight count and then allowed De la Hoya to finish the show. Oscar ran at Vargas, who had barely stepped out of a neutral corner, and fired off a six-punch combination. Maybe Vargas has some senses left, or maybe his floppy body was just lucky... but De la Hoya missed all six punches. Luckily, Vargas was doing little more than trying to slip and cover up. De la Hoya took a half-step back, took a deep breath, and then fired at Vargas again. This time he found his target, pushing Vargas across the ropes with the force of his blows and then trapping him in another corner. De la Hoya knew Vargas was hurt and knew just how to end the fight. Holding out his left arm straight, De la Hoya took two seconds to perfectly measure Vargas, then let his hands go in a blinding, but random, flurry. A few early blows snapped Vargas' head back, and then to the left. Cortez moved closer. Vargas covered up and De la Hoya simply unloaded a dozen unanswered punches to the front of his gloves. Cortez had no choice but to step in and halt the action. Vargas was not returning fire, was barely covering up, and was starting to slump into the ropes. It was a good call. De la Hoya KO11.
After the fight, De la Hoya (now 35-2/27) could not contain his broad smile. Now the WBA and WBC champion, Oscar did a lot to erase his image as a cautious, powerless-at-154, questionably conditioned, ABC titlist. He is now not only the man at 154, but he is finally a legit champion in four weight classes (we didn't count the win over Castillejo as a real junior middle title and we still don't count the WBO title he won at 130). This time, when he called out for rematches with Mosley and Trinidad, he did so with the confidence of a man who thinks he can win, not a man who feels he must because he has few other options. Nearly three years removed from his fall from grace against Trinidad, De la Hoya has, with this gritty performance, once again risen to the top of the sport. While he still may not fight on much longer, his future plans are now vastly more relevant. De la Hoya has some big fights ahead of him... and after this amazing performance, they may prove to be his biggest fights yet. Vargas (now 22-2/20) was unavailable for reaction after the bout... he was wisely rushed to a hospital. We're not sure if he was ambulanced away because he needed medical treatment (Vargas sustained a beating almost as bad as the one Tito gave him) or because he needed to be put on suicide watch. Having invested so much time and emotion into this bout, it will be most difficult for this young fighter to swallow losing to man he so genuinely despised. Still, his career is far from over. Vargas fought valiantly. At times in the early rounds, he fought far above expectations. He will be back. The fans love warriors of Vargas' ilk. There will always be butts in the seats when he fights. But this was Oscar's night. Past victories haven't always been. After most of his welterweight showdowns, even the ones he won, Oscar often left much to be desired. This night was a different story. This was Oscar's night to shine. .....Chris
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