Spilling bad blood

There was blood that smeared the faces of Oscar de la Hoya and Fernando Vargas in their brawl to unify the World Boxing Council (WBC) and World Boxing Association (WBA) superwelterweight titles at the Mandalay Bay and Resort and Casino in Las Vegas last Saturday night (Sunday morning in Manila).

It was bad blood that spilled on the canvas as both fighters expressed their distaste for each other in a battle for supremacy in the 154-pound division. Now only International Boxing Federation (IBF) champion Winky Wright stands in the way of crowning the ultimate titlist.

De la Hoya and Vargas, who are of Mexican descent, grew up in southern California. From the start, Vargas has envied the Golden Boy. De la Hoya came from a solid family–his father Joel Sr. and mother Cecilia were doting parents. Vargas’ father abandoned his family when he was a kid.

According to William Detloff of Ring Magazine, their feud dated back to when they were boys doing roadwork and Vargas fell in a snowbank. Vargas begged de la Hoya for a hand and was rebuffed. Instead of helping up Vargas, de la Hoya laughed. Vargas never forgave de la Hoya and will take the grudge to the grave.

De la Hoya, 29, was always a step ahead of Vargas in moving up the ladder.

He captured a gold at the 1992 Olympics. Vargas, 24, returned home without a medal from the 1996 Olympics. In the pros, de la Hoya was the worshipped hero–capturing titles in five different divisions from superfeatherweight to superwelterweight–while Vargas took the IBF superwelterweight crown, lost it, then annexed the WBA version.

De la Hoya has the looks of a matinee idol. Vargas has the looks of a back alley mauler. They’re like night and day. De la Hoya has bankrolled over $100 Million in 36 fights. Vargas never quite heard the cash register ring as much in 23 paydays.

If fans initially thought the hatred was all hype, they later realized it was for real. Vargas, whose role models are Mike Tyson and Julio Cesar Chavez, has publicly insulted de la Hoya, questioned his manhood, and showed no respect for the Golden Boy. Worse, he’s called de la Hoya a "phony" Mexican because of his "American" lifestyle. Vargas, whose nickname is "El Feroz," is proud of his heritage and has accused de la Hoya of being unpatriotic.

Outside of the ring, Vargas seems more settled. He plans to marry his long-time girlfriend Martha Lopez, the mother of their two sons. They’ve lived as a family for nearly seven years. A black mark in Vargas’ record was a 90-day detention for assaulting a man with a golf club in 1999 because of a woman. Vargas has been described as a hellraiser. Against rugged Ross Thompson, he was infuriated by the roughhouser’s underhanded tactics and retaliated by rabbit-punching and even spat at his opponent after scoring a knockdown. If the composed de la Hoya is as cold as ice, the volatile Vargas is as hot as coal.

Before their encounter, oddsmakers tagged de la Hoya a 12-5 then 5-2 and finally, 2-1 favorite. There was concern about de la Hoya’s 15-month layoff and his frequent distractions. He broke up with actress Shanna Moakler, the mother of his baby daughter, to marry Puerto Rican singer Millie Corretjer last October and was promptly sued for over $62 Million in child support. His first born Jacob’s mother is Cassie Van Doran who was only 18 when she became involved with the Golden Boy. He cut a CD of Latin love songs. He had to settle court suits ranging from an allegedly illegal termination of former trainer Miguel Hernandez to a rape charge. There was also suits from the IBF for failing to pay a sanction fee and from an assortment of women claiming de la Hoya to be the father of their kids. As a notorious Lothario, de la Hoya is deadly with chicks. With all of his extracurricular activities, you wonder how much time is left for de la Hoya to work out in the gym.

Besides, de la Hoya looked unimpressive in his last outing–his first as a 154-pounder–when he outpointed Javier Castillejo of Spain. He’d lost two of his last five and it appeared that de la Hoya’s interest in boxing was waning.

Vargas, on the other hand, took a total of six trips to the canvas in his last three bouts and cynics said he had to be damaged goods. Because of his devil-may-care style, Vargas takes a lot of punishment–more than a fighter of his caliber with decent defense.

Vargas had blood in his eyes when the bell rang for the first round last Saturday. De la Hoya was almost knocked off his feet in the early going as Vargas threw power bombs from all angles. But de la Hoya knew better than to engage Vargas in a toe-to-toe slugfest. As the fight progressed, de la

De la Hoya wore out Vargas. He circled to the right, then to the left, moved side-to-side, and left Vargas with no standing target. De la Hoya pumped his left jab once, twice, sometimes thrice in a row. Vargas couldn’t get untracked. When he unleashed his left, de la Hoya was gone before he could follow up with a right. De la Hoya made the right adjustments. Vargas didn’t.

De la Hoya used his brains to neutralize Vargas’ brawn. Vargas got tired and frustrated. De la Hoya kept on popping his jab and throwing combinations that eventually took their toll on Vargas. Late in the 10th round, a left hook nearly toppled Vargas. And in the fateful 11th, Vargas was dropped by a left. He got up on shaky legs and as de la Hoya trapped him in a corner and uncorked a dizzying series of at least 10 unanswered blows, referee Joe Cortez stepped in to halt the carnage.

Now, de la Hoya is up for bigger paydays. He’s been ordered to make a mandatory defense against No. 1 contender Roman Karmazan of Russia. De la Hoya will likely oblige but once he disposes of the unbeaten Russian, an option could be to challenge middleweight champion Bernard Hopkins or lure Felix Trinidad out of retirement for a megabuck rematch or wait for Vernon Forrest to invade the superwelterweight class for a dream showdown.

De la Hoya recently said he’ll retire at 30. Don’t bet on it. It’s a nice feeling to be back in the limelight and the Golden Boy would be crazy not to cash in on the rebirth of his Cinderella career.