No-Frill Win for Vargas

Boxing is rooted in violence, fueled by emotion and often brought to a peak by anger.

But Saturday night at the Mandalay Bay Events Center, although 4,700 had gathered to watch Fernando Vargas fight Jose “Shibata” Flores, boxing seemed out of place.

There was plenty of emotion and anger, but it was directed at the violence of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks against the United States. Flags were waved, a 10-count was gonged in remembrance of those who lost their lives and the biggest cheer of the night was “USA! USA!”

Add to that the fact Vargas and Flores are close friends and Vargas was expected to win easily against an overmatched opponent and it is not surprising that there was little emotion or excitement until the end when Vargas (22-1, 20 knockouts) knocked Flores (42-9, 26) out with eight unanswered punches at the close of the seventh round to win the vacant World Boxing Assn. junior-middleweight title.

“It was a tough time to put on a fight,” promoter Gary Shaw said. “I want to thank two Mexican fighters [Vargas is of Mexican descent] who not only wore the colors of the United States on their trunks, but also carried them into the ring. They did a lot to heal the country tonight.”

There was little of the usual fanfare before the fight. Both men entered the ring quickly, and dispensed with the usual menacing stares. The customary array of entertainment stars was missing from the crowd. Ring announcer Michael Buffer mainly spoke in respectful tones about the tragedy.

When the bell finally sounded and Vargas found himself face to face with Flores, Vargas had to give himself a pep talk.

After all, Flores used to be his sparring partner, a man who lived in Vargas’ house, a man who hung out with Vargas, a man whose career Vargas resurrected by putting him on the undercard of his fights.

Now, he was being asked to do Flores bodily harm in the ring.

“I was thinking, ‘I can’t believe I’m fighting him,”’ Vargas said. “All the time I was sparring with him and now I’m fighting him. I know this guy like an everyday guy. It made me trip out in the head. I had to tell myself he was trying to take food off my table.”

Of course, Vargas could have also told himself he was getting $1.4 million to pound on Flores and a change to gain a championship.

When Flores, who earned $315,000, won the first round against an almost passive Vargas, it seemed to wake Vargas up. In the second round, he dropped Flores after Flores missed on a right uppercut.

The two fighters then matched short left hooks, with Vargas doing the greater damage, sending Flores to his knees.

“As my former sparring partner, he knew all my tricks,” Vargas said. “I had to stay one step ahead of him.”

At the end of the seventh round, Vargas trapped Flores in a corner and proceeded to unload with both hands until Flores took a seat to avoid further pounding. And there he sat, watching referee Joe Cortez count to 10. It appeared Flores was poised to get back on his feet, but he never did as the count ran out.

“This was one of the toughest fights of my career,” Flores said. “And now I’m going to think about my career.”

There was never any doubt who would win the fight after the second-round knockdown, but doubts still remain over Vargas’ ability to regain the form he had before last December when Felix Trinidad knocked him down five times in a dominating win.

Returning to the ring in May, Vargas was knocked down by light-hitting Wilfredo Rivera before rallying to win on a sixth-round TKO.

But neither that performance nor Saturday’s victory have demonstrated that Vargas is ready to take on the big-name opponents he is trying to next lure into the ring--Oscar De La Hoya or Shane Mosley.

In a preliminary fight, 2000 Olympian Jeff Lacy increased his perfect pro record to 5-0 with five knockouts with a TKO victory over Tyler Hughes (17-14, 4). The scheduled six-rounder was stopped by Hughes’ corner after three rounds because of a deep cut around Hughes’ right eye.

Former International Boxing Federation junior-lightweight champion Roberto Garcia (34-3, 25) also won by TKO, his match against John Trigg stopped after the fourth round of another scheduled six-rounder because of cuts around Trigg’s eyes.

It was Garcia’s first fight since he lost by TKO to Joel Casamayor in January. Garcia is obviously easing his way back into competition, having chosen an opponent whose record was 6-11-4 with two knockouts coming in.