They Seem Ready for Past-His-Prime Time

Fernando Vargas vs. Shane Mosley. It’s Ferocious vs. Sugar, puncher vs. boxer, Oxnard vs. Pomona. It would have been a classic matchup.

Five years ago.

Instead, they will meet in a 12-round junior-middleweight match tonight at the Mandalay Bay Events Center, each trying to resurrect a career stalled by devastating losses and personal struggles.

They meet at a crossroads, each blocking the path of the other back to the fast lane to a championship match.

Perhaps it’s fitting this fight comes during the Winter Olympics, because both have been heading downhill for some time.

The 28-year-old Vargas (26-2, 22 knockouts) hasn’t seemed the same since he stepped into the ring against Felix Trinidad. It was an ill-advised move considering Vargas had only 20 professional fights at the time and was facing arguably the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world.

Sure enough, Trinidad knocked Vargas knocked down five times, the last ending the fight in the 12th round.

That was in 2000, but Vargas’ troubles were just beginning. In 2002, he was again beaten badly, this time by Oscar De La Hoya. Adding to Vargas’ woes, he tested positive for steroids after the fight.

Since then, he has fought sporadically because of back and thyroid ailments. Since the De La Hoya fight, Vargas has beaten Fitz Vanderpool, Tony Marshall, Raymond Joval and Javier Castillejo, none of whom has the reputation to enhance a resume.

Vargas, who has always battled a weight problem, weighed 194 pounds before coming down to 154 for the Castillejo fight. For tonight’s match, he had to come down from the 180s. When Vargas weighed in at 153 1/2 pounds Friday, he celebrated as if he had won the fight itself.

Vargas’ focus has changed since the days when his life revolved solely around the ring. He is now a businessman and has a speaking part in an upcoming movie with the promise of more roles to come.

All of which is reason to question how ferocious Vargas remains in the ring.

The 34-year-old Mosley (41-4, 35 KOs) brings his own baggage into battle. He has beaten De La Hoya twice, which in itself might grant him elite standing.

If only he hadn’t been beaten by Vernon Forrest ... twice.

If only he hadn’t been beaten by Winky Wright ... twice.

If only he hadn’t switched trainers ... twice.

When Mosley fired his first trainer, his father Jack, it was painful but necessary. Shane severed his ties with Jack after the first loss to Wright. Shane felt his father, the only trainer he had ever known, had taken him as far as he could. It was time, Shane felt, to expand his repertoire and explore new avenues for reaching his potential. There were also questions about Jack’s focus on Shane’s career in light of his own burgeoning involvement in the music business.

But then, after hiring Joe Goossen to train him and a much-improved performance against Wright in their second meeting, Mosley cut Goossen loose and moved on to a third trainer, John David Jackson.

Whether it was confusion over too many voices in his ear or the advancing years, Mosley hasn’t looked sharp in his last two fights, his once-vaunted speed missing, his head and body movement noticeably reduced.

He went 10 rounds with both David Estrada and Jose Luis Cruz, opponents Mosley would have dominated in earlier years.

Mosley, who weighed in at 152 Friday, insists tonight’s fight is not about redemption.

“I don’t know if it is really a crossroads fight,” he said. “I know that, in my mind, I am ready for war.”

Countered Vargas: “I am going to be the El Feroz from the past, but with a lot more offensive work that I have learned from [new trainer] Danny Smith. I can not only brawl, but I can box.”

De La Hoya is predicting an 11th-round knockout by Mosley -- not surprising considering Mosley is fighting for De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions.

Mosley may not possess the speed he once had, but he should have enough to outpoint Vargas, whose best hope is a knockout.

If both men can recapture a piece of the past, it could be an entertaining fight.

Just not as entertaining as it would have been five years ago.

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De La Hoya, who will fight Ricardo Mayorga on May 6 in De La Hoya’s first ring appearance in nearly two years, said Friday his farewell fight -- absolutely, positively -- will be Sept. 16 against Trinidad or Floyd Mayweather Jr. ... The March 25 Jesus Chavez-Marco Antonio Barrera lightweight title fight has been postponed because of a shoulder injury suffered by Chavez.

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Tale of the tape

Tonight’s junior-middleweight bout in Las Vegas scheduled for 12 rounds (Pay per view, 6):

*--* MOSLEY VARGAS Pomona Hometown Oxnard 34 AGE 28 41-4 RECORD 26-2 35 KNOCKOUTS 22 152 WEIGHT 153 1/2 5-9 HEIGHT 5-10 71 REACH 74

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