Sugar Shane faces Vargas
by Perry of
BetWWTS
Occasionally, a professional boxer will come along and establishedhimself as one the most talented fighters in the world. Whileenjoying life as a champion, the boxer will face what seems tobe a lesser opponent and lose. In the inevitable rematch, theformer champion loses again, even though he’s arguably a moretalented fighter. As the old cliché goes, the fighter has methis match. Oscar De La Hoya, one of the most talented boxers inthe sport’s history, ran into such an opponent in “Sugar” ShaneMosley a few years back. When the two first met in June of 2000,most figured De La Hoya would retain his WBC welterweight title,but he lost in 12-round split decision. The general feeling followingthe fight was that Mosley, who was relatively unknown up to thatpoint, must be in the same league as De La Hoya in terms of talent.But two years later, Mosley had lost twice to little known VernonForrest, who subsequently lost his next two fights to the chain-smokingNicaraguan, Ricardo Mayorga.
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Perhaps figuring he had a better chance of beatingMosley after his losses to Forrest, De La Hoya challenged SugarShane to a rematch in 2003. But once again the Golden Boy cameup short, losing by a unanimous decision.
After the fight, Mosley, who captured the WBCand WBA light middleweight belts with the win, all but admittedDe La Hoya was the more talented boxer.
“Oscar's a Hall of Fame fighter. I’m just theone person he can’t get by,” he said. “Without him I wouldn’tbe where I am today.”
Mosley proceeded to lose his next two fightsto Ronald “Winky” Wright in 12-round decisions.
Sugar Shane has won two fights since then andis now 41-4-0 with 35 KOs. The 34-year-old native of Pomona, Californiais set to enter the ring Saturday night against another formerDe La Hoya foe, “Ferocious” Fernando Vargas.
As the WBA light middleweight champ, Vargas lostto De La Hoya in an 11th round TKO back in 2002.
Not long after that fight, Vargas tested positivefor the steroid Stanozolol, the same drug Canadian sprinter BenJohnson was taking when he was stripped of the gold medal at theSeoul Games.
Vargas was subsequently suspended from boxingfor nine months and fined $100,000. Since his return, the 28-year-oldnative of Oxnard, California has gone 4-0. His overall recordheading into Saturday’s fight is 26-2-0 with 22 KOs.
A couple of key victories in Vargas’ career includea 12-round unanimous decision over highly regarded Ike Quarteyin 2000 as well as a 12th-round majority decision victory in 1999over Winky Wright, the last guy to beat Mosley.
Prior to De La Hoya, Vargas’ first career losscame by way of a 12th round TKO to Felix Trinidad in 2000. Atthe time, Vargas was the IBF light middleweight champion.
Saturday night’s fight is scheduled for 12 roundsand will take place at the Mandalay Bay Resort in Las Vegas andwill be broadcast on HBO pay-per-view beginning at 9 p.m. ET (approx.cost $45).
The fight will be in the junior (or super) middleweightdivision, which is 147-154 pounds (Note: Mosley stands 5-foot-9;Vargas is 5-foot-10).
At times considered one of the best pound-for-poundboxers in the world, Mosely opened as -170 favorite. Vargas islisted at +130.
The fight is also favored to go past the midwaypoint of the 12th round at -180; the odds of it ending beforethe midway point of the 12th is +140.
The winner of this fight will likely earn a titleshot against one of the current alphabet champions: Mayorga (WBC),Alex Terra Garcia (WBA) or Roman Karmazin (IBF).
On the other hand, the winner could set himselfup for another fight with De La Hoya, who is expected to faceMayorga in May. That could get a little strange for Mosley whois now being promoted by De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions.
In another fight on Saturday night, Danny Williamswill go toe-to-toe with Matt Skelton in heavyweight tussle atthe ExCeL Arena in London, England.
Williams, you may remember, knocked out MikeTyson in the fourth round of a scheduled 10-rounder in 2004. Lessthan five months later, he was knocked out by former WBC heavyweightchampion Vitali Klitschko.
Williams has won twice since then and holds theCommonwealth heavyweight title. Skelton is the British heavyweightchamp.
Skelton, 39, is favored to win at -225. Williams,32, is listed at +185.
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