Vargas vows to regain title

Dean Juipe

Thursday, Aug. 30, 2001 | 9:59 a.m.

Once the International Boxing Federation world champion at 154 pounds, Fernando Vargas goes after the World Boxing Association version of the junior middleweight championship when he faces Shibata Flores Sept. 22 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center.

That WBA title is currently vacant, as it was relinquished by Felix Trinidad upon his move to the middleweight division.

Vargas, 23, emphatically claims he will regain his championship status, if for no other reason than the commitment he has put into his training.

"I'm an analyzer and I analyzed why I was getting slower with each fight," Vargas said during a conference call, referring specifically to his TKO-12 loss to Trinidad last December at Mandalay Bay and an up-and-down outing with Wilfredo Rivera May 5 in El Paso. Vargas won that latter fight by sixth-round TKO, although not before he was knocked down and later hurt again by Rivera.

"I used to take off two months (after a fight) and not do anything," Vargas said. "That's what got me so lethargic. Before, I would never do nothing. But this time, I was back in the gym two days after the Rivera fight.

"You're going to see a ripped Fernando Vargas. I feel quick and I'm not getting tired.

"I'm happy with myself right now."

Saying he was a comfortable 166 pounds with the fight three weeks away, Vargas has the advantage of an extensive knowledge of Flores in that he once used him as a sparring partner (while preparing to fight Raul Marquez in 1999).

Bettors expect Vargas to take the WBA title fight, as he is a minus 625 favorite in the Mandalay Bay sports book. Flores is a plus 475. It's a minus 115 each way as to whether the scheduled 12-round fight will or won't go seven full rounds.

"He knows me, but I know him," Vargas said of fighting a former colleague. "We were friends ... acquaintances, you could say. But regardless of whether I know him or not, I'm going to try and hurt him.

"I have no problem doing what I've got to do."

Vargas, who is 21-1 with 19 knockouts, has had to narrow his focus to Flores after negotiations for a December fight with Oscar De La Hoya fell through.

"When everything was on the table, he didn't want to do it," Vargas said of De La Hoya. "He knows I've been at 154 longer than him and that I'm stronger than him. He knows I'm not going out there just to get paid and lay down."

A De La Hoya vs. Vargas fight could yet materialize and be targeted for on or about next May 5.

"If it goes down in the future, so be it," Vargas said. "That's what I want. But if it doesn't happen it's not going to break my heart."

Currently training at Big Bear, Calif., Vargas is a noted brawler who relies on quickness and a natural athleticism. But he has now had consecutive fights where he tasted the canvas, and questions have arisen pertaining to how much the fight with Trinidad in particular took out of him.

"Yeah, I've been knocked down in both of those fights," Vargas said. "Against Trinidad, it was because I didn't expect him to be that strong. Against Rivera, I definitely wasn't thinking about boxing. I was weak."

He said a lack of training prior to the fight with Rivera left him unduly concerned about his weight and conditioning once the fight arrived. He said he has corrected those mistakes and will come into the bout with Flores at 100 percent.

"I know he's going to come hard; he thinks it's his only chance (to win a world title)," Vargas said. "But I feel great. I've been working on speed, intelligence and angles.

"When (Flores) took this fight, he didn't know I wasn't going to wait two months to get into the gym."