Vargas not happy that Oscar won’t fight him

Dean Juipe

Thursday, May 20, 1999 | 10:44 a.m.

Oscar De La Hoya dropped something of a bombshell on an unexpecting audience last week when he said, in no uncertain terms, that he would never fight one of the sport's rising stars, IBF junior middleweight champion Fernando Vargas.

A De La Hoya vs. Vargas fight was figured to be a natural for the year 2000, after De La Hoya moved up to 154 pounds.

That's a big-money fight between a pair of good-looking sluggers with Hispanic backgrounds. It's a pay-per-view bonanza.

Nonetheless, without expounding, De La Hoya said he refuses to fight Vargas because of the younger man's "lack of respect" for the WBC welterweight champion.

It was left to Vargas to fill in the gaps -- and to fire his own salvo.

"This dates from when I was 16 years old," the 21-year-old Vargas said by phone from his Oxnard, Calif., home. "I met Oscar then at a gym out here, after he won his Olympic gold medal.

"I was pretty pumped up because some people called me the next Oscar De La Hoya. I liked this guy and I wasn't looking for much that day. You know, at the most I thought he'd say maybe we could spar someday.

"Anyhow, he completely gave me the cold shoulder. I discovered that the way he portrays himself is totally opposite from the way he really is."

Rejected, Vargas lashed back that day five years ago with a derogatory comment or two toward De La Hoya.

"I felt hurt," he said. "So I said a few things to him that can mainly be explained by my age at the time. At 16, you're not always able to express yourself just right or the way you should, and that was my mistake.

"But it's not like I'd take those comments back, though."

From that one unfortunate meeting, it appears as if a lifelong grudge was formed between two otherwise friendly young men.

"The hurt I felt has changed over the years to anger," Vargas said. "I don't like the guy now and I never will. He's right, I don't have any respect for him.

"It's a cop out to use something that happened years ago as an excuse to never fight me. The truth is, he never thought some punk-nosed kid would come along and be on the same level he is, and he knows I can beat him."

Vargas is 16-0 with 16 knockouts and won the IBF 154-pound title last December by stopping Yory Boy Campas in the seventh round in a fight in Atlantic City.

De La Hoya is 30-0 and fights Oba Carr Saturday at Mandalay Bay.

Vargas is set to face ex-champ Raul Marquez, 29-1, July 17 at Caesars Tahoe.