Saturday, January 29, 2011

Fernando Vargas To Attempt A Comeback

Fernando Vargas is the latest boxer to attempt a comeback after a three year layoff. Personally I think he should stay retired. The motivation is unknown, although there is plenty of suspicion that he's fighting for the money. Translation, he's broke. I won't go that far because I don't know his situation, it's just what I've read on lots of message boards and you take with a grain of salt.

I believe this is a bad move. He thinks it's a good one. He still feels he can compete at a championship level and eventually win another world title. Of course that remains to be seen. He'll be facing Henry Buchanan on April 16 in Las Vegas. I don't know much about Buchanan (20-2, 13 KO's), except that he went the distance with titlist Andre Ward. I don't think that's going to be much of a measuring stick if he expects to be in the title mix. The only thing that'll be able to tell is if he still has any skills left after three years. If he looks good and stops Buchanan or at least is dominant he might can get a fight against a name opponent that can boost him back into contention. If not, it'll be a long climb back and he'll be a name fighter that gets beat by up and comers.

Vargas has been training with Floyd Mayweather Sr. lately and is down to 187 pounds after hitting 270 on the scales. He fought mostly at 154 pounds and that seemed to be a problem since he always had trouble making weight. That was something he cited in losses to Shane Mosley and Oscar De La  Hoya and was a reason he left the fight game.

"I was tired of these guys never fighting me unless it was at 154," Vargas said. "Oscar [De La Hoya], Shane [Mosley] -- none of them would fight me if it wasn't at 154. I was always crunching down my body and not eating."


Vargas (26-5, 22 KO's) will act as his own promoter and will only book fights and 168 pounds. Knowing about his weight problems, he'd be better off moving up to light heavyweight. Vargas was an entertaining fighter, but didn't know when to back away from a punch. I hope for the best for him but I think it's best he stayed in retirement. Vargas lost most of his fights in entertaining but brutal fashion. After a three year layoff he'll have to shake off a lot of rust and that could possibly lead to another bad loss for Vargas that could finish him for good.

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