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| Biography |
| 1999, was a good year for the Ferocious One. On the undercard to the Lennox Lewis-Evander Holyfield fight in March of 1999, Fernando Vargas defeated Howard Clarke dropping him 4 times in round 4 forcing a halt to the bout. In July he stopped Southpaw Raul Marquez in 11 rounds earning a knockout victory, which tied the record set by light heavyweight champion, Roy Jones Jr. for the "Most consecutive Knockout Wins to begin a Champion's Career." Fernando succsefully defended his belt 5 times including a late December bout with Winkly Wright to end the year. Vargas dominated the championship rounds (10-12) to take the fight. Fernando was honored by being named the "Fighter of the Year" for 1999 by the World Boxing Hall of Fame. In 2000, Fernando fully established himself as a star of boxing by dominating former WBA Welterweight Champion Ike "Bazooka" Quartey. Not only was it Fernando's best fight to date, but it also turned out to be Ike Quartey's final bout. On August 26, Fernando knocked out IBF #1 contender Ross Thompson, flooring him 3 times in a span of 2 mintues! Thompson came into the bout at 173 lbs! On December 2, 2000, fans saw one of the great fights in boxing in which the young Fernando Vargas showed his incredible heart and desire. After being dropped 2 times in the opening minute, Fernando came back to punish Felix Trinidad for 12 rounds, including knocking him down with a crushing left hook in round 4. But a combination of 3 hard low blows and 5 knockdowns by Tito, lead to Fernando's first loss. Fernando returned in May 2001 and defeated Wilfred Rivera in 6 rounds, then captured the WBA Jr. Middleweight belt in September, beating down former sparring partner, Jose "Shibata" Flores in 7. |
| Fernando Vargas is good for boxing. This was evident when his bout with Fitz Vanderpool on July 26, 2003 sold out the historic Olympic Arena in just 3 days, something that hasn't happened in over 20 years. Fernando began his professional boxing career on March 25, 1997 in his hometown of Oxnard, California by defeating Jorge Morales by knockout in just 1 round. |
| He headlined his first HBO card on August 22, 1998 by defeating Darren Maciunski and 4 months later, Fernando would become the youngest champion at only 21 years and 5 months old, by destroying Yory Boy Campas for the IBF Jr. Middleweight title. |
| Fernando returned to the ring on July 26, 2003 stopping the WBC #1 contender, Fitz Vanderpool in 6, proving to the boxing world, that the Ferocious One was in deed back, and boxing needed him as much as he needed it. One step closer. Fernando took one more step to becoming World Champion again, when he defeated Tony Marshall (12/12/03), including |
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| On September 14, 2002, Fernando Vargas and Oscar De La Hoya met in one of boxings greatest fights. DLH took more punishment in this fight than he had in any other fight, and was nearly knocked down in the opening round . The back and forth action, the intenstity, animosity and real Bad Blood between the two made this fight not only historic, but special. After mounting a comeback in round 9, Fernando was caught at the end of round 10 by a DLH left hook, and never fully recovered in time, and the bout was stopped in 11. |
| Shouted HBO commentator Jim Lampley during the bout, "There's so much desire in Fernando Vargas!" Bad Blood, will go down as one of the great boxing matches in history, and will be remembered for a long long time. |
| a knockdown of Marshall in the 2nd round on his way to a TKO win in 7. EL FEROZ is poised to return as king of the Jr. Middleweight class in 2004, and boxing and its fans, will be ready for the return of the Ferocious one. |