Vargas Fights Off Rust and Overmatched Foe

The fireworks were exploding high above the Olympic Auditorium ring, the crowd was cheering, Fernando Vargas was straddling the corner post proudly pointing at his biceps and co-manager Rolando Arellano was wildly leading the cheers.

All this for a victory over Fitz Vanderpool. Imagine the scene if Vargas were to beat Oscar De La Hoya.

Still, you take your victories where you find them and, after a forced nine-month layoff because of steroid use, Vargas was more than happy to get back in the ring and the win column with Saturday night’s sixth-round technical knockout of Vanderpool in front of a sellout crowd of 6,500, the first boxing sellout in this building in two decades.

Vargas can’t be accused of picking a stiff for his comeback fight. Vanderpool (24-5-4, 13 knockouts) lacks punching power, but the fighter from Trinidad was the World Boxing Council’s No. 1 contender at 154 pounds.

Vargas won all five completed rounds on the scorecards of two judges -- Raul Caiz and Chuck Hassett -- and four of the five on judge James Jen-Kin’s card.

Still, Vargas (23-2, 21), coming off a TKO loss to De La Hoya last September, conceded that he needs more work to return to the form that made him a world-class fighter.

“I felt rusty,” he said. “I am not where I am supposed to be. On a scale of one to 10, I would give myself a three. But I’m my own worst critic.... I want to blossom and be a better fighter, a hungrier fighter under Buddy.”

That would be veteran trainer Buddy McGirt, who was brought into the Vargas camp to work with longtime trainer Eduardo Garcia to bring Vargas’ skill level up to an eight or a nine.

McGirt was pleased with phase one.

“For a guy who was off for nine months, he did very well,” McGirt said. “I told him, ‘Don’t worry about the knockout. Just wear [Vanderpool] down,’ and he wore him down with smart punches.”

Part of the new, improved Vargas’ arsenal was supposed to be a more effective jab, but it wasn’t in evidence much Saturday.

Vargas, nevertheless, appeared to hurt Vanderpool time and again with right hands, body shots and combinations, but Vanderpool survived with wild punches that, while hitting nothing but air, slowed Vargas’ attack.

Vargas insisted he could have finished Vanderpool earlier.

“It was hard to hold back,” Vargas said, “but I needed to work on what I’ve been working on in the gym, working to the body. I’m 25. What’s the rush?”

In the sixth round, Vargas appeared to put Vanderpool down when he connected on top of his head. Vanderpool slid to the canvas, but referee Marty Denkin called it a slip.

Vanderpool had trouble keeping his balance in the latter rounds, falling to the canvas four times in all.

With Vanderpool unable to defend himself or even keep his legs steady as the sixth round wore on, Denkin stepped in to end the match at the 2:36 mark.

“The stoppage was too quick,” said Jimmy Montoya, Vanderpool’s trainer. “I wanted Fitz to stand still and slip punches, not move around so much. But Fernando is no slouch. We were fighting the best.”

Vanderpool also protested Denkin’s decision.

“The stoppage was too quick,” Vanderpool said. “I was closing the gap, wearing him down.”

Yet when Vanderpool returned for a postfight news conference, he had to be helped back into the ring, explaining that he had hurt an ankle on one of the slips.

The crowd had been chanting “Vargas! Vargas!” throughout the fight and the cheers continued even as Vargas exited the ring. It was the first chance Vargas, who is from Oxnard, had an opportunity to soak in the cheers here. Although he has been fighting since 1997 and made his professional debut in Oxnard, this was his first fight in Los Angeles.

Staples Center officials would like to see another one in their building. They were interested in hosting Vargas’ next fight, but that has already been set against a still-to-be-determined opponent in Tucson on Oct. 3, the night before promoter Bob Arum stages a Staples Center card headlined by Erik Morales, and promoter Dan Goossen puts on a heavyweight match between Evander Holyfield and James Toney at Las Vegas’ Mandalay Bay Events Center.

Vargas’ game plan is to fight two lesser opponents -- in October and again in January -- pointing to what he hopes will be a return match against De La Hoya in May.

Now that would be a victory worthy of a wild celebration.