De La Hoya, Vargas Will Meet at Last

After years of trading trash talk and menacing stares, Oscar De La Hoya and Fernando Vargas have finally agreed to trade punches in the ring.

Negotiators for both fighters concluded a deal Wednesday for De La Hoya and Vargas, both Southern California fighters, to meet May 4 in a pay-per-view match to be held, if final details can be worked out, at Las Vegas’ Mandalay Bay Hotel.

Barring any last-minute snags, the contracts will be signed today. De La Hoya is guaranteed $14 million for the match, Vargas $6 million with additional revenue for each fighter based on the pay-per-view numbers.

Still to be determined is if the titles of the two 154-pound champions--De La Hoya is the World Boxing Council titleholder, Vargas the World Boxing Assn. champion--will be on the line. De La Hoya must decide if he will pay the sanctioning fees and Vargas must get an exemption from fighting WBA mandatory challenger Mamadou Thiam.

The fight reunites De La Hoya with promoter Bob Arum. The two had an ugly, name-calling split after De La Hoya’s loss to Shane Mosley in 2000. A court ruled De La Hoya could break his contract with Arum. Arum appealed that decision but will drop that appeal when he and De La Hoya sign a new multi-fight deal, which is expected to happen in the next few days.

Tuesday night, De La Hoya and Arum had dinner at a Las Vegas restaurant, their first face-to-face meeting since the day after the Mosley fight.

“It can be even more fun the second time around,” De La Hoya told Arum.

It wasn’t so bad the first time, De La Hoya earning $125 million in the ring under Arum’s guidance.

“It was very emotional,” Arum said of the dinner. “I was determined to break the ice and we had a great time. It just seemed natural to be back together.”

There was also euphoria over Wednesday’s agreement on Vargas’ side.

“I’m ecstatic,” said Gary Shaw, Vargas’ promoter. “I’m high as a kite. This is a fight the boxing public wants. I feel so good I may even spend tonight listening to Oscar sing on his CD.

“I think the fight should be named Bad Blood, because there is a lot of bad blood between these two and that blood is going to begin to boil.”