Latest Victory Proves to Be a Shirt Thing for Vargas

Knowing the warm feelings Fernando Vargas has for Oscar De La Hoya, Raul Marquez presented Vargas with a De La Hoya T-shirt at a Los Angeles news conference a few weeks ago.

Those warm feelings might actually be better described as sizzling anger. But Vargas showed rare restraint in the face of Marquez’s move.

Until Saturday night.

Then, he shoved that shirt back into Marquez’s face after peppering that face with right crosses, left hooks, right uppercuts and stinging jabs for 32 minutes in decidedly defending his International Boxing Federation junior-middleweight title at Caesars Tahoe in front of a crowd of 2,030.

“I told Marquez when he gave me that shirt that I would give it back to him to wipe off the blood,” Vargas said.

There was plenty of that. When referee Joe Cortez stepped in to stop the fight two minutes into the 11th round, Marquez had cuts over both his eyes and in the corner of the left eye.

Although he held off Vargas longer than any other opponent, Marquez said afterward, that “this will probably be my last fight.”

Vargas (17-0, 17 knockouts) had never before been pushed beyond the seventh round, but the gritty Marquez, although he was constantly being beaten to the punch, hung in and kept moving forward in the face of constant punishment.

Marquez had hoped to lure the emotional Vargas into a slugfest, figuring that was his only chance for victory. But although he was infuriated at the T-shirt taunt and shoved Marquez at the weigh-in, Vargas stayed with his game plan once the bell rung, moving, counterpunching and keeping Marquez at bay.

“I always fight with controlled anger,” Vargas said.

“The guy is good, real good,” Marquez conceded. “I could never catch up to him. He never hurt me, but he is a sharpshooter. I thought I could get to him, but he fought his fight. He would pop me with two to three shots and then slip mine. He is very sharp.”

This was only the second loss for Marquez, who dropped to 30-2 with 20 knockouts. He won the IBF junior-middleweight crown via a ninth-round TKO of Anthony Stephens in April 1997. In December of that year, Marquez suffered his first loss and the title as well when he was knocked out by Yory Boy Campas.

But in his last few fights, he has had serious problems with cuts and swelling in the facial area. So, unless he changes his mind as fighters often do, Marquez will stop the bleeding once and for all by hanging up his gloves.

For Vargas, 21, who comes from Oxnard, it appears the fighting has only begun.

He earned $500,000 for Saturday night’s bout, compared to $100,000 for Marquez, but Vargas’ earning power could shoot up as rapidly as his right uppercut in the fights to come.

The obvious fight for him right now is against World Boxing Assn. 154-pound champion David Reid, an 1996 Olympic gold medalist. There is also a possible fight against Ike Quartey.

And, of course down the line, De La Hoya, who plans to move up to 154 pounds at year’s end, figures to be waiting.

But for now, Vargas is focusing on Reid.

“I want to be the best in the division,” Vargas said. “To do that, I have to fight the champions. I’ve got something [a title] David Reid wants and he’s got something I want. We’ll see who takes it all home.”

Sounds serious. But to make sure Vargas remains fired up, maybe his trainers ought to present him with a David Reid shirt.

The semi-main event lasted 79 seconds. And Gary Bell spent nearly all of that time against the ropes trying futilely to fend off the smothering attack of David Tua.

Then referee Vic Drakulich mercifully stepped in to end the one-sided battle, boosting Tua to 34-1 with 29 knockouts in his first defense of the U.S. Boxing Assn. heavyweight crown he won from Hasim Rahman in December.

Bell, who dropped to 21-3 with 14 knockouts, had blood streaming from a cut over his left eye when the fight ended.

“He surprised me by coming out to fight,” Tua said of Bell. “But I used my weight to my advantage.”

Tua, who weighed in at 237 pounds, had a 13-pound weight advantage over his opponent.

“My body has matured,” Tua said. “I have more muscle and less fat. But I’m still quick and I still have power.

” I will fight anybody, [Evander] Holyfield, [Lennox] Lewis, bring them on.”