 |
|
Photos © German Villasenor
|
When looking at the career of ‘Ferocious’ Fernando Vargas, despite all of his past success, one still seems to sense that he’s somewhat well removed from his glory days at the top of the sport. I get the feeling that his rise back to championship status, if it should ever happen again, will be a slow and steady step by step process as he shakes off the rust from a 15 month layoff and increases the competition with each incoming bout. The finished story of ‘El Feroz’ is far from being written, but the good news is that Fernando successfully took another step closer to his championship aspirations tonight with a solid but somewhat uneventful ten round decision over rugged Raymond Joval.
With the crowd at the American Bank Center in Corpus Christi, TX behind him, Vargas went to work against Joval. From the opening it was clear that plenty of ring rust still needed to be shaken off, but Vargas went about things as he always has, like a calculated assassin waiting for the right moment to strike. The early rounds where a match=up of Vargas’ patient boxing style going against the work rate of Joval. Vargas’ rhythm seemed a bit out of place, but he worked his way in behind a solid jab and had early success to Joval’s body. The entire time Vargas kept his right hand high and his chin tucked, as if he was taking a page from the Mayweather school of infighting.
Joval was busy and showed guts, but he was outmatched by the harder punches and accuracy of his younger foe. A lot of the rounds seemed close, but I found myself leaning towards Vargas simply because of his aggression, bodywork, and occasional right hand shots. In round six it appeared that Vargas had scored a body shot knockdown, but referee Laurence Cole called it a slip.
Late in the contest we saw Vargas dig deep as he always has, turning up the pressure to the crowd’s delight. On several occasions it looked as though the Oxnard native had his man ready to go but Joval hung tough and weathered the attacks. The night’s most suspenseful moment came in the 9th round when, to no avail, Vargas complained to the ref that he was hit with a low blow and was clocked with a right hand moments later. Vargas seemed momentarily stunned, but he regrouped and finished strong. Scores of 98-92, 96-94, and 97-93 were read in Fernando’s favor as he upped his record to 25-2 with 22 KO’s. Joval falls to 33-4(15 KO’s).
After the fight Vargas, who weighed in at 162 lbs., claimed he would indeed be able to make the Jr. Middleweight limit in due time. He made mention of soon challenging for Javier Castillejo’s WBC belt while hoping for rematches against Felix Trinidad and Oscar de la Hoya down the road. Trinidad and De la Hoya are the only two men to defeat Vargas; both fighters having finished Vargas off with dramatic late round knockouts.
Following his loss to De la Hoya in September of 2002, Fernando Vargas’ career seemed to be up in the air. Following bouts against Tony Marshall and Fitz Vanderpool gave little indication as to how close Vargas really was to regaining his status as one of the game’s best fighters. The answer to Vargas’ true resting point remains to be seen, but it was nice seeing him in action tonight, even if he only got one or two steps closer to his goal.
|
|
|
|
© Copyright / All Rights reserved: Doghouse Boxing 1998-2005
|
By Chris Robinson (March 27, 2005) 
