Vargas Scores Big at Rally

It won’t be worth a single point on the judges’ scorecards, but Fernando Vargas made big points with the local Mexican-American community Sunday afternoon by staging a huge rally on Olvera Street to hype his May 4 welterweight title fight against Oscar De La Hoya.

A crowd estimated by a Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman at between 3,500 and 4,000 came with their banners, their posters and their cameras to the Pueblo de L.A. Plaza. There were cheers for Vargas, jeers for De La Hoya, and even a few tears from an uncharacteristically humble Vargas at the appearance of his boyhood hero, Julio Cesar Chavez.

Even De La Hoya was there. Sort of.

While the World Boxing Council 154-pound champion declined to join the rally, Vargas’ handlers had a cardboard cutout of De La Hoya placed in a chair next to Vargas as a target for their mockery.

Referring to De La Hoya as “chicken-hearted,” Gary Shaw, Vargas’ promoter, said, “by Oscar not being here, [it means] he has already started to run.”

There were references throughout the rally about Vargas being a true Mexican--a recurring theme in his campaign against De La Hoya--the inference being that De La Hoya is somehow less than a true Mexican. Nothing new in that approach. Muhammad Ali used it three decades ago, inferring he was somehow more of a true black man than Joe Frazier.

That was no truer than Vargas’ mantra is today. Both Vargas and De La Hoya, who will finally meet in the ring at Las Vegas’ Mandalay Bay Events Center, are both Mexican-Americans and Southern Californians. De La Hoya is from East Los Angeles, Vargas from Oxnard.

“I’m proud to be a Mexican,” Vargas said. “This is where you come from. These are your people. You should want to be here.”

There is a method to Vargas’ message. By proclaiming himself a true Mexican warrior while chiding De La Hoya for hitting and running in the ring, a style De La Hoya employed in the closing rounds of his 1999 fight against Felix Trinidad, Vargas is hoping to shame De La Hoya into standing toe to toe and slugging it out.

That would figure to be Vargas’ only chance for victory against the faster De La Hoya.

But on Sunday, Vargas said he didn’t see a slugfest as his best option.

“That’s where I get in trouble, when I go out there and think I’m a he-man,” said Vargas, “when I think I’ve got to get a knockout every time.”

In contrast to a news conference in January where an emotional Vargas shoved De La Hoya, starting a near brawl, Vargas was under control Sunday, his usual braggadocio tempered, his approach more about pride in his heritage than anger at his opponent.

But Vargas lost it when Chavez, universally regarded as the greatest fighter Mexico has produced, was introduced on the stage.

“I remember cheering for him as a kid,” Vargas said. “It gives me goose bumps that he is here. I’m speechless.”

Chavez has agreed to do more than merely share a stage with Vargas. He has offered to spend a month with the fighter at his Big Bear training headquarters.

“Chavez is Chavez,” Vargas said. “He knows a lot and I can learn a lot, whatever he wants to teach me. I am amazed he is here.”

Said Chavez, who lost twice to De La Hoya: “I don’t have anything against Oscar personally. I recognize he’s also a great fighter, but it’s going to be a tougher fight than he thinks ... [Vargas] is young and has a great future. I see a lot of fire in him. I’m going to dedicate a couple of months to be with him by his side.”

It was Vargas’ stage Sunday, his spotlight, his moment.

It remains to be seen whether that will be the case on May 4th, however, when the cardboard cutout will be replaced by flesh and blood.

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Times staff writer Valerie Gutierrez contributed to this story.