Bad Blood Thins for Vargas

Gone was the blood from under his right eye. Gone was the sneer from his mouth. Gone was the shrillness from his voice.

Five days after disappearing from the ring in Las Vegas’ Mandalay Bay Events Center after losing his 154-pound title fight against Oscar De La Hoya on an 11th-round technical knockout, Fernando Vargas reappeared in public Thursday at a news conference in a hotel near LAX. Wearing a suit and tie and showing no evidence of the beating he had taken from De La Hoya, Vargas grudgingly gave De La Hoya his due but maintained he had the fight won until De La Hoya caught him with a left hook at the end of the 10th round.

Vargas said it was easier to accept this defeat than the one he suffered at the hands of Felix Trinidad nearly two years ago.

“This is different,” Vargas said. “I was mad at God then. I know now God does things for a reason. I’m cool now. I go to church. I have no problems with God. I’m at peace with myself and with God.”

Rather than continuing to spew his avowed hatred of De La Hoya, as he had in the months leading up to the fight, Vargas gave his fellow Southern Californian credit for his performance and appealed for a rematch.

“It was his night,” Vargas said. “I would love a rematch.”

That won’t happen in the near future. If Trinidad sticks to his retirement announcement, De La Hoya is expected to grant a rematch to Shane Mosley next May, nearly two years after Mosley beat him on a split decision. Mosley, who has never fought above 147 pounds, hopes to break in at 154 pounds in January or February against either World Boxing Council interim 154-pound champion Javier Castillejo or World Boxing Organization 154-pound titleholder Daniel Santos. Vargas’ next opponent probably will be International Boxing Federation 154-pound champion Winky Wright, whom Vargas beat on a majority decision in 1999. Vargas is expected to return to the ring in March.

But Thursday, he was still looking back at Saturday night. Although two of the three judges and the majority of boxing writers had De La Hoya ahead by two points, 96-94, heading into the 11th round, Vargas was adamant about his own mental scorecard.

“I think I was doing everything right and winning the fight,” Vargas said. “I was catching him with more effective, harder shots. I felt good and strong. He just caught me with a good shot. That’s boxing. You’ve got to be ready for anything.”

Eduardo Garcia, Vargas’ trainer, said through a translator that he was concerned after De La Hoya started scoring in the eighth round with his right hand, the hand he had seldom used effectively in the past.

“I knew we had a problem,” Garcia said.

Garcia knew he had a crisis when Vargas plopped down on his stool at the end of the 10th round, clearly hurt.

“I tried to put cold water on him and give him strong words,” Garcia said, “but we only had a limited amount of time. We didn’t have enough time to recover.”

De La Hoya knocked Vargas down with a left hook in the 11th round and then finished him off with a flurry of 16 unanswered punches before referee Joe Cortez stopped the fight.

Contrary to information put out by Vargas’ handlers late Saturday night that he had a partial fracture of the orbital bone surrounding his right eye, Vargas said Thursday he merely had a severe cut that required two stitches.

Vargas has been taking shots at De La Hoya for years over some alleged snub by De La Hoya, an incident Vargas had promised to talk about at length after the fight.

Asked to make good on his promise Thursday, Vargas said, “I would love to talk about it ... before the rematch.”

Always leave them wanting more.