Vargas’ Decision Is Fit for King

That rumble emanating from the Mandalay Bay Events Center Saturday night was sound of the Southern California boxing landscape shifting.

Move over, Oscar, you’ve got company on center stage. Fernando Vargas has arrived.

Vargas made his grand entrance by winning a unanimous decision over Ike Quartey to successfully defend his International Boxing Federation junior middleweight title.

But what followed was an even bigger signal that Vargas, of Oxnard, can now claim parity with Oscar De La Hoya of East L.A..

There at ringside was promoter Don King, offering Vargas a fight with Felix Trinidad.

With all hope of a De La Hoya-Trinidad rematch dead for now, King, ever on the lookout for a big payday, sees hope for a financial bonanza in the fast-rising Vargas.

“Dare to be great,” King yelled to Vargas, “and we will put you in with the best fighter in the world, Felix Trinidad.”

With a strong jab, a powerful right hand, steady, solid uppercuts and the ability to shake off the best Quartey could offer, Vargas (19-0, 17 knockouts) put his shaky performance against Winky Wright in his last outing behind him, emerging with an impressive victory over his best opponent to date in front of a crowd of 6,631.

Judges Dave Moretti and Jerry Roth scored the fight 116-111. The third judge, Glen Hamada, saw it surprisingly close at 114-113.

The Times scored it 117-110 for Vargas.

“Against Winky Wright, I found out what it was like to go 12 rounds,” Vargas said. “I think I proved something [tonight]. Quartey is tough and he came to fight, but I was the best man.”

In a fight in which there were no knockdowns, Vargas won all the small battles, outpunching Quartey in clinches and matching him jab for jab.

Although he hadn’t fought since losing a split-decision to De La Hoya 15 months ago and had only fought three times in the last three years, Quartey (34-2-1, 29 knockouts) showed no signs of rust. Nor did he wilt in the later rounds.

He simply couldn’t match Vargas, who connected on 389 punches to 272 for Quartey.

Quartey, who felt he had been robbed in his bout against De La Hoya in Las Vegas, again disputed the decision.

“What fight were you watching [at} 116-111?” said Quartey, who comes from Accra, Ghana. “It was a much closer fight than that. I’m very upset about the decision.”

Added Dr. Oko Kwartekwei, referred to as Quartey’s spiritual advisor: “We ain’t coming to Vegas no more. This fight was very, very close. It was ridiculous.”

Even at the moment of his greatest victory, Vargas couldn’t resist dwelling for a few minutes on the man he loves to goad, De La Hoya.

The De La Hoya-Quartey match was close with both men going down once and De La Hoya needing a strong 12th round to clinch the victory. De La Hoya lost on a decision to Trinidad in September, a fight that De La Hoya may have lost tactically because he stayed away from Trinidad in the final three rounds.

“I went right after him,” said Vargas of Quartey, “better than the other guy. My fight with Quartey wasn’t close. I didn’t want to disrespect our Mexican people by running all night like somebody else did.”

Vargas also had a message for Trinidad, whose victory over De La Hoya was by the narrowest of margins: “You are a great fighter, but I’ll show you how a Mexican can fight.”

He’ll probably get his chance. The sides are talking about a possible Oct. 14 match.

In the semi-main event, Antonio Diaz (31-2, 22 knockouts) of Coachella defended his International Boxing Assn. junior welterweight title with an 11th-round technical knockout of Ivan Robinson (29-4, 11 knockouts) of Philadelphia.

Diaz is scheduled to fight Mickey Ward in Los Angeles on June 16, the night before the De La Hoya-Shane Mosley bout at Staples Center.

In a preliminary bout Saturday night, Jose “Shibata” Flores (39-8, 20 knockouts) of L.A. won the United States Boxing Assn./North American Boxing Assn. junior middleweight title with a unanimous decision over Paul Vaden (29-3, 16 knockouts) of San Diego.