Vargas wants Oscar with a vengeance

Dean Juipe

Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2002 | 9:24 a.m.

Convinced that his conditioning will be the difference in the fight, Fernando Vargas predicted Tuesday that he will obliterate Oscar De La Hoya when the junior middleweights square off Sept. 14 at Mandalay Bay.

"I know I can beat this guy," Vargas said during a conference call. "I'm going to be stronger than he is."

Vargas, 24, is 22-1 and the World Boxing Association champion at 154 pounds.

De La Hoya, 29, is the World Boxing Council champion at the same weight and has a record of 34-2.

De La Hoya is a slight betting favorite.

"I'm in the best shape of my life," Vargas claimed. "I'm a big junior middleweight. Oscar has never fought a fighter as intelligent as me, or as strong, or as quick."

Both men will be coming off long layoffs, as Vargas has not fought since a KO-7 win over Shibata Flores last September in Las Vegas, while De La Hoya has been idle since a June 23, 2001, decision over Javier Castillejo here.

"If anybody, he should be the one worried about it," Vargas said, when asked about the inactivity. "He's been off a year and a half and hasn't been able to practice his craft."

A wrist injury to De La Hoya forced this fight with Vargas to be postponed from its original May 4 date. While everything looks to be in order for next month's fight, Vargas admitted that "it has crossed my mind" that De La Hoya will pull out again.

Setting aside those concerns, Vargas began sparring Monday at his camp in Big Bear, Calif., and says he has devoted himself to training "as if it was a 9-to-5 job." He said that approach stands in contrast to how he trained earlier in his career, when he stayed near his Oxnard, Calif., home and became "lackadaisical."

Vargas maintains he's a better fighter than ever and that the loss on his ledger, to Felix Trinidad in 2000, has no lingering ramifications.

"When I lost to Trinidad I felt ashamed, that I'd let everyone down," he said. "But I learned something from that ... and that's to stick to my fight plan.

"Every time I stick to the fight plan, I've been successful."

Toward that, he implied that it was unlikely he would come charging at De La Hoya from the opening bell as many fans and experts envision.

"They expect me to go crazy (and) maybe that's what I want them to think," Vargas said. "But maybe they will or maybe they won't see me angry."

He's angry at De La Hoya in general, however, as was obvious at a January press conference in Los Angeles when their war of words nearly spilled over into a brawl. De La Hoya has since called Vargas "simply bad for boxing, period."

"I personally have a beef with this cat and we're two different individuals," Vargas said. "He's going to have to kill me (to win). I'm going to take it to the limit.

"Oscar has done great in his career and made a lot of money. I just feel I'm hungrier and that I've still got a lot to prove."