Vargas asks for leniency

Dean Juipe

Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2002 | 10:02 a.m.

The Nevada State Athletic Commission is in receipt of a letter from professional boxer Fernando Vargas in which the fighter accepts responsibility for testing positive for a banned substance following his Sept. 14 loss to Oscar De La Hoya at the Mandalay Bay Events Center.

Vargas, 24, comes across as contrite in a four-page letter dated Oct. 25.

In an earlier letter to the NSAC, Vargas expressed "great shock" that he had tested positive for the steroid stanozolol. But in the follow-up correspondence he takes a slightly different approach.

"I do not intend to contest either the jurisdiction of the commission or the test findings," Vargas writes. "When I first received word of the findings, I expressed my shock. I explained that I did not knowingly take any prohibited substance, much less a steroid. However, it would be unrealistic for me to deny the test result, and I am not doing so.

"I can only reiterate that I did not know and ask that you believe me.

"I had professionals who I hired and trusted. I was being given a multitude of pills which I was told were nutritional supplements.

"It is well known that there was a certain amount of friction in my camp, and competition between camp members ... may have contributed."

Vargas adds that he went out of his way to be tested following the fight, in that he was transported to Valley Hospital following his TKO-11 loss. He also says he is willing to cooperate with the commission on the matter and that he prides himself in not taking drugs.

He closes the letter by saying "I now ask the commission for leniency in any penalty to be assessed."

The NSAC will address the matter at a meeting yet to be determined, executive director Marc Ratner said Tuesday.

Vargas, of Oxnard, Calif., faces a fine or a suspension when the commission decides upon a penalty.