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The Remarkable Career of “Ferocious” Fernando Vargas
The Remarkable Career of “Ferocious” Fernando Vargas
Back in the 90s the sport of prizefighting in Southern California was centered in the major cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego.
Along came a small group of aspiring boxers including a fiery youngster named Fernando Vargas who hailed from Oxnard, California.
“Top of the food chain baby!” was the rallying cry of Vargas and others.
Vargas simply stood out among the others from the farming community of Oxnard. He quickly rose up the ranks in a weight division not common for Mexican-Americans and became an Olympian and later a super welterweight world champion as a pro.
He also was tabbed by the nickname “Ferocious” Fernando Vargas, a moniker he earned throughout his boxing career. Last week the Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame added Vargas name to their honored list.
“It’s a tremendous honor,” Vargas said.
When he was a youngster in junior high he admitted to having a quick-trigger when it came to unleashing those quick fists.
“I wasn’t a bully but if somebody wanted something I wouldn’t hesitate,” said Vargas via phone in Las Vegas.
After a junior high suspension, he was forced to stay home and by accident, or serendipity, the fiery youngster happened to see a TV news clip of youngsters boxing in Oxnard. He didn’t know fighting was allowed or even practiced. He wanted to be a part of it so he hunted it down and discovered the gym three miles away from his home.
“I walked there every day three miles,” said Vargas. “I never missed a day.”
The fighter quickly became part of the Garcia clan that was sparking interest in Oxnard boxing. The head of the family, Eduardo Garcia, quickly became the father figure of Vargas and taught him the rudiments of boxing.
“He’s my jefe and will always be my jefe,” said Vargas. “He has always been like a father to me.”
La Colonia Gym
It was either 1993 or 1994 when a Los Angeles Times reporter was sent to investigate a boxing club that was making noise in Southern California. It was unusual to hear that several boxers from the Ventura County area were slicing through boxing competition in the amateur levels. One boxer, Robert Garcia, was considered a prize prospect in the professional ranks and had been signed by Top Rank promotions.
While interviewing Garcia, the reporter was urged to talk to a youngster, Fernando Vargas, who was blowing by competition in the amateurs. It was the first time I met him; he was about 16 years old at the time.
“He is really good, he’s going to do things,” said Garcia that day of Vargas.
We shook hands and Vargas resumed his training. There were about two dozen youngsters training outside because the new La Colonia Gym was being built.
By 1996, Vargas was making headway in the national amateur boxing scene and after fierce competition captured a position on the USA Olympic Boxing team. Though the Oxnard youngster did not win a medal in the Atlanta Olympics due to strange scoring, he was primed and ready for the professional ranks.
“We were always taught the pro style, not that pitty-pat stuff,” said Vargas. “We were taught to throw three and four-punch combinations and nothing more than that. Once in a while maybe five but all of our punches connected.”
It was that pro style that first enabled Robert Garcia to win the first world title by an Oxnard fighter in March 1998. Vargas soon followed by capturing the second world title by stoppage against Mexico’s Yory Boy Campas in December 1998. Vargas had just turned 21 years old. He was the youngest fighter to win a super welterweight title.
Campas was a revered Mexican warrior and the victory by Vargas sent shockwaves through the boxing community. But for Vargas his sweetest victory took place seven months later against Raul Marquez in the Lake Tahoe, Nevada.
“I was at my best against Raul Marquez. I don’t know how to describe it but I never felt better before a fight. Everything was working, even during training things were perfect. I made weight easy and felt good during that fight,” said Vargas. “I walked in there feeling I could not be beat. I felt invincible.”
He defeated Marquez by technical knockout in the 11th round and then out-battled Winky Wright to win by majority decision. At the time, few knew the abilities of Wright and a few skeptics arose doubting Vargas’ talent. In his next fight, the doubters would be silenced.
Bigger Game
One man feared in the welterweight and super welterweight division was Ghana’s human battering ram Ike “Bazooka” Quartey. He had just faced Oscar De La Hoya and lost a back and forth battle with the East L.A. fighter but had raised his profile as a dangerous foe for anyone.
Vargas accepted a fight with Quartey.
Instead of seeking easy opposition, the fiery Vargas sought out fights that his rapidly growing legion of fans preferred. Quartey fit that prerequisite perfectly. He was avoided, feared and had only lost once to a fighter widely respected. Vargas wanted that respect too.
A crowded arena at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino awaited them on April 15, 2000. Fans for both packed the seats for the IBF super welterweight title clash in Las Vegas. The Oxnard fighter’s eagerness to prove his mettle quickly gained him admiration and a quickly growing legion of “El Feroz” rabid fans. The loud and boisterous Vargas fans arrived in droves and made their presence known.
But could Vargas defeat Quartey?
Though Vargas was known as a boxer-puncher he seemed to prefer slugging it out. All of those watching on television and those in the arena expected a battle of machismo, but instead Vargas showcased his polished ability to box and give angles against Quartey’s seek and destroy style. It also proved the Oxnard fighter was more than just a slugger, but a skilled warrior capable of sustaining a disciplined attack for 12 tense rounds. Vargas won by unanimous decision to the joy of his fans.
Parties erupted all over Las Vegas that night wherever fans of “El Feroz” gathered. In the coming weeks celebrations were still taking place including a planned bash in Montebello, California. Vargas and his crew arrived and the partying continued.
Vargas fans were drunk with pride at his victory. Who would be next?
Tito
One of the biggest names in boxing was Felix “Tito” Trinidad who had defeated De La Hoya by majority decision in September 1999 and followed that up by moving into the super welterweight division. Knockout wins over David Reid and Mamadou Thiam gained the popular Puerto Rican slugger the WBA super welterweight title. It was a perfect match for Vargas who held the IBF version.
Both champions met at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino on December 2, 2000 before a raucous packed arena. Puerto Rican and Mexican flags were scattered throughout the stands. Vargas fans were confident as were Trinidad’s.
Vargas, 22, was just days before turning 23 and was the natural super welterweight. Trinidad was 27-years-old and in his prime when he stepped in the boxing ring for their unification bash.
It was a horrible start for Vargas who was dropped twice before the first minute of the first round by Trinidad’s vaunted left hook. The Puerto Rican celebrated after the second knockdown thinking the fight was over. It was far from over, as Vargas showed that tremendous heart he was famous for.
“I came back and I knocked him down and he hit me in the balls. It was f****n crazy but I gave everything that I had in me and left everything in the ring,” said Vargas.
After six rounds the Oxnard fighter had managed to pull even with a furious and ferocious counter-attack including a knockdown of the Puerto Rican champion. It looked like Vargas had pulled out a miracle. But those knockdowns and the persistent attack by Trinidad saw the fight tip in his favor and in the 12th and final round Trinidad connected again with that lethal left hook and down went Vargas three more times before the fight was stopped. Trinidad had defeated Vargas.
“To this day I don’t even remember that fight after the first knockdown,” said Vargas. “My wife told me I had been knocked down five downs and I said what? I only remember one knockdown.”
Regardless of the loss Vargas remained a fan favorite because of his willingness to fight the best and do it with guts. Hardcore fight fans loved his style and throughout his career his fans remained loyal and devoted. He was a true warrior and for many boxing lovers that’s what prizefighting is all about.
Today, Vargas owns a gym in Las Vegas and has three sons competing in the amateur boxing program. All three sons are outstanding boxers and groomed to fight in a style similar to his own.
“I teach my sons to be able to fight a variety of styles and not be just one dimensional,” said Vargas whose sons are named Fernando Jr. Emiliano and Amado. “That’s how you get beat.”
At his gym called the Feroz Fight Factory in North Las Vegas, several dozen youngsters train regularly. It’s one of the premier gyms in the new Mecca of boxing Las Vegas.
Vargas was one of the primary reasons for the resurgence of boxing in not only Southern California but the entire southwestern region of the U.S. All fans of boxing remember “El Feroz.”
When the Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame announced the selection of this year’s class of 2020 many fans applauded the choice of Fernando Vargas. The induction ceremony is scheduled to take place on August 7th and 8th at the Red Rock Casino in Las Vegas.
“Aw man, it was a blessing. I’m grateful I did some things in the sport to be inducted. I was humbled and to be enshrined with the likes of Roberto Duran, Mike Tyson, Thomas Hearns and Oscar De La Hoya is truly a blessing,” said Vargas.
And for those who forget Vargas and where he came from, just remember his war cry: “Top of the food chain. Oxnard stand up.”
Welcome Fernando Vargas to the Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame.
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Two below-the-radar super welterweight stars show off their skills this weekend from different parts of Southern California.
One in particular, Charles Conwell, co-headlines a show in Oceanside against a hard-hitting Mexican while another super welter star Sadriddin Akhmedov faces another Mexican hitter in Commerce.
Take your pick.
The super welterweight division is loaded with talent at the moment. If Terence Crawford remained in the division he would be at the top of the class, but he is moving up several weight divisions.
Conwell (21-0, 16 KOs) faces Jorge Garcia Perez (32-4, 26 KOs) a tall knockout puncher from Los Mochis at the Frontwave Arena in Oceanside, Calif. on Saturday April 19. DAZN will stream the Golden Boy Promotions card that also features undisputed flyweight champion Gabriela Fundora. We’ll get to her later.
Conwell might be the best super welterweight out there aside from the big dogs like Vergil Ortiz, Serhii Bohachuk and Sebastian Fundora.
If you are not familiar with Conwell he comes from Cleveland, Ohio and is one of those fighters that other fighters know about. He is good.
He has the James “Lights Out” Toney kind of in-your-face-style where he anchors down and slowly deciphers the opponent’s tools and then takes them away piece by piece. Usually it’s systematic destruction. The kind you see when a skyscraper goes down floor by floor until it’s smoking rubble.
During the Covid days Conwell fought two highly touted undefeated super welters in Wendy Toussaint and Madiyar Ashkeyev. He stopped them both and suddenly was the boogie man of the super welterweight division.
Conwell will be facing Mexico’s taller Garcia who likes to trade blows as most Mexican fighters prefer, especially those from Sinaloa. These guys will be firing H bombs early.
Fundora
Co-headlining the Golden Boy card is Gabriela Fundora (15-0, 7 KOs) the undisputed flyweight champion of the world. She has all the belts and Mexico’s Marilyn Badillo (19-0-1, 3 KOs) wants them.
Gabriela Fundora is the sister of Sebastian Fundora who holds the men’s WBC and WBO super welterweight world titles. Both are tall southpaws with power in each hand to protect the belts they accumulated.
Six months ago, Fundora met Argentina’s Gabriela Alaniz in Las Vegas to determine the undisputed flyweight champion. The much shorter Alaniz tried valiantly to scrap with Fundora and ran into a couple of rocket left hands.
Mexico’s Badillo is an undefeated flyweight from Mexico City who has battled against fellow Mexicans for years. She has fought one world champion in Asley Gonzalez the current super flyweight world titlist. They met years ago with Badillo coming out on top.
Does Badillo have the skill to deal with the taller and hard-hitting Fundora?
When a fighter has a six-inch height advantage like Fundora, it is almost impossible to out-maneuver especially in two-minute rounds. Ask Alaniz who was nearly decapitated when she tried.
This will be Badillo’s first pro fight outside of Mexico.
Commerce Casino
Kazakhstan’s Sadriddin Akhmedov (15-0, 13 KOs) is another dangerous punching super welterweight headlining a 360 Promotions card against Mexico’s Elias Espadas (23-6, 16 KOs) on Saturday at the Commerce Casino.
UFC Fight Pass will stream the 360 Promotions card of about eight bouts.
Akhmedov is another Kazakh puncher similar to the great Gennady “GGG” Golovkin who terrorized the middleweight division for a decade. He doesn’t have the same polish or dexterity but doesn’t lack pure punching power.
It’s another test for the super welterweight who is looking to move up the ladder in the very crowded 154-pound weight division. 360 Promotions already has a top contender in Ukraine’s Serhii Bohachuk who nearly defeated Vergil Ortiz a year ago.
Could Bohachuk and Akhmedov fight each other if nothing else materializes?
That’s a question for another day.
Fights to Watch
Sat. DAZN 5 p.m. Charles Conwell (21-0, 16 KOs) vs. Jorge Garcia Perez (32-4, 26 KOs); Gabriela Fundora (15-0) vs Marilyn Badillo (19-0-1).
Sat. UFC Fight Pass 6 p.m. Sadriddin Akhmedov (15-0) vs Elias Espadas (23-6).
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The Boxing Writers Association of America has announced the winners of its annual Bernie Awards competition. The awards, named in honor of former five-time BWAA president and frequent TSS contributor Bernard Fernandez, recognize outstanding writing in six categories as represented by stories published the previous year.
Over the years, this venerable website has produced a host of Bernie Award winners. In 2024, Thomas Hauser kept the tradition alive. A story by Hauser that appeared in these pages finished first in the category “Boxing News Story.” Titled “Ryan Garcia and the New York State Athletic Commission,” the story was published on June 23. You can read it HERE.
Hauser also finished first in the category of “Investigative Reporting” for “The Death of Ardi Ndembo,” a story that ran in the (London) Guardian. (Note: Hauser has owned this category. This is his 11th first place finish for “Investigative Reporting”.)
Thomas Hauser, who entered the International Boxing Hall of Fame with the class of 2019, was honored at last year’s BWAA awards dinner with the A.J. Leibling Award for Outstanding Boxing Writing. The list of previous winners includes such noted authors as W.C. Heinz, Budd Schulberg, Pete Hamill, and George Plimpton, to name just a few.
The Leibling Award is now issued intermittently. The most recent honorees prior to Hauser were Joyce Carol Oates (2015) and Randy Roberts (2019).
Roberts, a Distinguished Professor of History at Purdue University, was tabbed to write the Hauser/Leibling Award story for the glossy magazine for BWAA members published in conjunction with the organization’s annual banquet. Regarding Hauser’s most well-known book, his Muhammad Ali biography, Roberts wrote, “It is nearly impossible to overestimate the importance of the book to our understanding of Ali and his times.” An earlier book by Hauser, “The Black Lights: Inside the World of Professional Boxing,” garnered this accolade: “Anyone who wants to understand boxing today should begin by reading ‘The Black Lights’.”
A panel of six judges determined the Bernie Award winners for stories published in 2024. The stories they evaluated were stripped of their bylines and other identifying marks including the publication or website for which the story was written.
Other winners:
Boxing Event Coverage: Tris Dixon
Boxing Column: Kieran Mulvaney
Boxing Feature (Over 1,500 Words): Lance Pugmire
Boxing Feature (Under 1,500 Words): Chris Mannix
The Dixon, Mulvaney, and Pugmire stories appeared in Boxing Scene; the Mannix story in Sports Illustrated.
The Bernie Award recipients will be honored at the forthcoming BWAA dinner on April 30 at the Edison Ballroom in the heart of Times Square. (For more information, visit the BWAA website). Two days after the dinner, an historic boxing tripleheader will be held in Times Square, the logistics of which should be quite interesting. Ryan Garcia, Devin Haney, and Teofimo Lopez share top billing.
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To say that Mekhrubon Sanginov is excited to resume his boxing career would be a great understatement. Sanginov, ranked #9 by the WBA at 154 pounds before his hiatus, last fought on July 8, 2022.
He was in great form before his extended leave, having scored four straight fast knockouts, advancing his record to 13-0-1. Had he remained in Las Vegas, where he had settled after his fifth pro fight, his career may have continued on an upward trajectory, but a trip to his hometown of Dushanbe, Tajikistan, turned everything haywire. A run-in with a knife-wielding bully nearly cost him his life, stalling his career for nearly three full years.
Sanginov was exiting a restaurant in Dushanbe when he saw a man, plainly intoxicated, harassing another man, an innocent bystander. Mekhrubon intervened and was stabbed several times with a long knife. One of the puncture wounds came perilously close to puncturing his heart.
“After he stabbed me, I ran after him and hit him and caught him to hold for the police,” recollects Sanginov. “There was a lot of confusion when the police arrived. At first, the police were not certain what had happened.
“By the time I got to the hospital, I had lost two liters of blood, or so I was told. After I was patched up, one of the surgeons said to me, ‘Give thanks to God because he gave you a second life.’ It is like I was born a second time.”
“I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. It could have happened in any city,” he adds. (A story about the incident on another boxing site elicited this comment from a reader: “Good man right there. World would be a better place if more folk were willing to step up when it counts.”)
Sanginov first laced on a pair of gloves at age 10 and was purportedly 105-14 as an amateur. Growing up, the boxer he most admired was Roberto Duran. “Muhammad Ali will always be the greatest and [Marvin] Hagler was great too, but Duran was always my favorite,” he says.
During his absence from the ring, Sanginov married a girl from Tajikistan and became a father. His son Makhmud was born in Las Vegas and has dual citizenship. “Ideally,” he says, “I would like to have three more children. Two more boys and the last one a daughter.”
He also put on a great deal of weight. When he returned to the gym, his trainer Bones Adams was looking at a cruiserweight. But gradually the weight came off – “I had to give up one of my hobbies; I love to eat,” he says – and he will be resuming his career at 154. “Although I am the same weight as before, I feel stronger now. Before I was more of a boy, now I am a full-grown man,” says Sanginov who turned 29 in February.
He has a lot of rust to shed. Because of all those early knockouts, he has answered the bell for only eight rounds in the last four years. Concordantly, his comeback fight on Saturday could be described as a soft re-awakening. Sanginov’s opponent Mahonri Montes, an 18-year pro from Mexico, has a decent record (36-10-2, 25 KOs) but has been relatively inactive and is only 1-3-1 in his last five. Their match at Thunder Studios in Long Beach, California, is slated for eight rounds.
On May 10, Ardreal Holmes (17-0) faces Erickson Lubin (26-2) on a ProBox card in Kissimmee, Florida. It’s an IBF super welterweight title eliminator, meaning that the winner (in theory) will proceed directly to a world title fight.
Sanginov will be watching closely. He and Holmes were scheduled to meet in March of 2022 in the main event of a ShoBox card on Showtime. That match fell out when Sanginov suffered an ankle injury in sparring.
If not for a twist of fate, that may have been Mekhrubon Sanginov in that IBF eliminator, rather than Ardreal Holmes. We will never know, but one thing we do know is that Mekhrubon’s world title aspirations were too strong to be ruined by a knife-wielding bully.
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A Paean to George Foreman (1949-2025), Architect of an Amazing Second Act
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Sebastian Fundora TKOs Chordale Booker in Las Vegas
Boxing Odds and Ends: The Wacky and Sad World of Livingstone Bramble and More
Avila Perspective, Chap. 318: Aussie Action, Vegas and More
Avila Perspective, Chap. 319: Rematches in Las Vegas, Cancun and More
Ringside at the Fontainebleau where Mikaela Mayer Won her Rematch with Sandy Ryan
Results and Recaps from Sydney where George Kambosos Upended Late Sub Jake Wyllie
William Zepeda Edges Past Tevin Farmer in Cancun; Improves to 34-0
History has Shortchanged Freddie Dawson, One of the Best Boxers of his Era
Avila Perspective, Chap. 320: Women’s Boxing Hall of Fame, Heavyweights and More
Results and Recaps from Las Vegas where Richard Torrez Jr Mauled Guido Vianello
Filip Hrgovic Defeats Joe Joyce in Manchester
Weekend Recap and More with the Accent of Heavyweights
Remembering Hall of Fame Boxing Trainer Kenny Adams
Avila Perspective Chap 320: Boots Ennis and Stanionis
Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis Wins Welterweight Showdown in Atlantic City
Dzmitry Asanau Flummoxes Francesco Patera on a Ho-Hum Card in Montreal
Boxing Notes and Nuggets from Thomas Hauser
Avila Perspective, Chap. 322: Super Welter Week in SoCal
TSS Salutes Thomas Hauser and his Bernie Award Cohorts
Mekhrubon Sanginov, whose Heroism Nearly Proved Fatal, Returns on Saturday
Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis Wins Welterweight Showdown in Atlantic City
Boxing Notes and Nuggets from Thomas Hauser
Avila Perspective Chap 320: Boots Ennis and Stanionis
Dzmitry Asanau Flummoxes Francesco Patera on a Ho-Hum Card in Montreal
Remembering Hall of Fame Boxing Trainer Kenny Adams
Weekend Recap and More with the Accent of Heavyweights
Results and Recaps from Las Vegas where Richard Torrez Jr Mauled Guido Vianello
Filip Hrgovic Defeats Joe Joyce in Manchester
Avila Perspective, Chap. 320: Women’s Boxing Hall of Fame, Heavyweights and More
History has Shortchanged Freddie Dawson, One of the Best Boxers of his Era
Ringside at the Fontainebleau where Mikaela Mayer Won her Rematch with Sandy Ryan
William Zepeda Edges Past Tevin Farmer in Cancun; Improves to 34-0
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