Trinidad’s win caps hectic week in local boxing

Dean Juipe

Monday, Dec. 4, 2000 | 10:50 a.m.

It was a marathon held on a sprinter's course, with 39 fights contested on six separate boxing cards in Las Vegas within eight days.

Fights of all descriptions -- from lousy to great -- fell under the jurisdiction of the Nevada State Athletic Commission, which completed its grueling march Sunday with a five-bout card held at the Plaza downtown.

"It was the biggest week we've ever had and the most exciting as well," NSAC executive director Marc Ratner said of the orchestrated carnage, including Saturday night's mega-fight at the Mandalay Bay Events Center that saw Felix Trinidad stop Fernando Vargas in the 12th round.

"The whole week energized me," Ratner added. "This was the biggest single week of boxing anywhere in the world at any one time, at least for many, many years.

"And I don't know if there's any place in the world other than right here in Las Vegas where you could have six fight cards in a little more than a week and have the staff and expertise to be able to handle it. I mean that with all my heart."

The highlight, of course, was seeing Trinidad and Vargas -- two undefeated junior middleweight champions -- go at it for 12 hard rounds until Trinidad prevailed. The focal point of the busy week drew 10,627 live fans and thousands of others who congregated in the hallways and lobbies at Mandalay Bay.

"That was an old-time fight," said one of the men who scored the Trinidad vs. Vargas affair, Duane Ford of Las Vegas. "It was a fight like you might have seen in the old days of black and white TV."

Ford had Trinidad ahead by a 103-100 score at the time referee Jay Nady stopped it. His fellow judges were in agreement, as Stanley Christodoulou of South Africa had it 104-100 and Glen Hamada of Kent, Wash., had it 104-99.

The Sun card had Trinidad up 104-100 as well. But through five rounds it was a different story, with the Sun favoring Vargas 47-45 and Ford having him ahead 46-45, while Christodoulou and Hamada both had Trinidad up 46-45.

Vargas was whisked from the arena to Valley Hospital, but Dr. Flip Homansky of the NSAC said the fighter was released at 11:30 p.m. Saturday. Homansky said a CAT scan was negative and that Vargas checked out satisfactorily after various neurological exams.

One relatively impartial observer, promoter Bob Arum, said he felt the big fight shouldn't have taken place and, given its outcome, that Vargas may have a difficult time recovering.

"Vargas wasn't ready for that fight," Arum said. "Maybe a year from now he could have taken the fight and won, but (Vargas' promotional firm) Main Events maybe did what it felt it had to do or was pressured to do by Vargas."

As for the fight's impact on Vargas, Arum said beware.

"From my experience, he may never be the same," Arum said. "Through 11 rounds I wouldn't have said that, but the beating he took in the 12th was horrific.

"You get beat up like that and it has to affect your motor skills. He'll be easier to knock down or knock out in his future fights."

It was Vargas' first loss in 21 pro bouts. While he handed over his International Boxing Federation title at 154 pounds, Vargas could easily win it back as Trinidad is apt to relinquish it and move to 160 pounds.

Assuming Vargas will be re-positioned as the IBF's No. 1 challenger, he may only need to defeat Robert Frazier (No. 2), Winky Wright (No. 3) or Bronco McKart (No. 4) to regain his belt.

Trinidad, now 39-0 with an imposing 32 knockouts, called the fight his toughest ever and that says something in that he has met and beaten Pernell Whitaker and Oscar De La Hoya.

He went off as a minus 215 betting favorite and earned $4 million. Vargas was a plus 185 and took home $2 million.

"It's buzzing in here tonight," a ticket holder remarked as he passed by the horde of onlookers who lined the aisles en route to the arena. Dueling bands, positioned not 50 yards apart, serenaded the crowd and ticket scalpers whispered sweet nothings to those looking to buy or sell a ducat.

In terms of volume, a majority of fans favored Vargas and brought a new and updated meaning to "Fernando Mania." But unlike the excitement that once surrounded pitcher Fernando Valenzuela of the Los Angeles Dodgers, this Fernando Mania was short-circuited by Trinidad's punching power.

He had Vargas down five times in the fight, including twice in the first round and three times in the 12th.

Of course Trinidad himself was down in the fourth, but his rally through the second half of the fight demonstrated once again that he had experience on his side and that he had done this before.

The give and take made for a memorable fight and the likely Fight of Year winner, however informal the title.

Likewise, the busy eight days was memorable for Ratner and his NASC associates. Friday, for instance, he hustled from the MGM to the Venetian to catch the primary action in two cards that slightly overlapped.

With the help "of a special parking place" at the Venetian, he made the trip in six minutes.

He and his staff were holding up well Sunday as promising lightweight Julio Diaz improved his record to 19-0 by stopping Lalo Perez, 20-14-2, in the sixth round of the main event of still another nationally televised card.

"One thing I'm going to ask the state for and have a little discussion about is adding a medical record keeper," Ratner said of an offshoot of the deluge of fights in the past week. "The amount of paperwork we have to do for a fight card is very big and it takes just as much time and effort for a card like this one (at the Plaza) as it does for a big one at Mandalay Bay.

"This week proved we have a very real need for a medical record keeper. It would help immensely and my goal is to have someone by July 1."

How can the state turn him down?