De La Hoya Close to Fighting Vargas

Oscar De La Hoya and Fernando Vargas, two Southern California fighters who have long waged a verbal battle, have reached a tentative agreement to take their fight into the ring Dec. 8.

Still to be worked out are the financial details as well as the pay-per-view agreement with TVKO.

Three sites are being considered--Staples Center and Las Vegas’ MGM Garden Arena and Mandalay Bay Events Center.

“We are nearly home,” said Gary Shaw, Vargas’ promoter. “We are rounding third and I’m getting ready to slide.”

Said Richard Schaefer, De La Hoya’s business manager: “I would be disappointed at this point if the fight can’t be made.”

There could be one hitch. Vargas will fight Jose “Shibata” Flores on Sept. 22 at Mandalay Bay. That would give Vargas 11 weeks to get ready for De La Hoya if he wins as expected. But if Vargas should be hurt in the fight, or were to suffer a serious cut, the Dec. 8 date would be in jeopardy.

“I am very superstitious,” Shaw said. “If I had my way, we would not even be discussing a De La Hoya fight until Sept. 23. But realistically, if this fight is going to happen, we need to plan press conferences and press tours way before that.”

The press tours could be almost as interesting as the fight. Vargas, who grew up in Oxnard, has made it clear over the years that he resents De La Hoya, who is from East Los Angeles. Vargas claims De La Hoya ignored him when he was coming up, and labels De La Hoya a poor representative for Latino fighters because of his preference for boxing over slugging.

De La Hoya, stung by the remarks, insisted for a long time that he would never fight Vargas.

But now seems the ideal time. Vargas was badly beaten by Felix Trinidad last December, getting knocked down five times, and struggled in May to beat Wilfredo Rivera, who knocked him down once. Vargas (21-1, 19 knockouts) will be fighting Flores for the vacant World Boxing Assn. 154-pound title.

De La Hoya (34-2, 27) won the World Boxing Council 154-pound title in June with a decision over Javier Castillejo.

The fight would be ideal for Los Angeles, but Staples Center officials, who have said they want it, will have to engage in bidding against the Vegas powerhouses, who could push the site fee as high as $8 million.