Of course, all true boxing fans should care about Friday’s non-title, super middleweight battle between Ferocious Fernando Vargas and Ricardo El Matador Mayorga! The question is how much should we care? Despite the fact that both fighters will bring marquee names, large followings, and tons of bravado into the Staples Center on Friday night, they are bringing shells of their former selves into the ring. Interestingly enough, both fighters have been on the receiving end of professional beat-downs at the hands of future Hall of Famers Oscar De La Hoya and Felix Trinidad. These losses offer great insight into what will take place tonight.
Both fighters fighters are fairly easy to hit and are particularly vulnerable to left hooks, as De La Hoya and Trinidad both proved. It was this punch that both men used to dislodge Vargas and Mayorga from their senses. This doesn’t bode well for Mayorga for two reasons: Vargas’ best punch is his left hook and Mayorga does not have a potent enough one to worry Vargas. As bad as Fernando Vargas has looked in his most recent superfight losses to Oscar De La Hoya and Shane Mosley (twice), he should be able to take advantage of this left hook advantage, his greater size, and a partisan crowd that will be rooting for him in his final fight.
Look for Fernando Vargas to enjoy a happy ending (via late stoppage victory) to a career that was a roller coaster ride of sorts. Rightly or wrongly, I will remember him most for his exciting, yet devastating losses to Felix Trinidad, Oscar De La Hoya and Sugar Shane Mosley. I will also remember his entertaining victories against Ronald Winky Wright and Ike Bazooka Quartey. So, how much should we care about the Vargas-Mayorga matchup this Friday? Well, we should care. I’m just not sure if I care enough to pay to see it.
