BOXING: Ferguson's strong hand builds Vargas' new muscles
Kevin Iole - http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2006/Feb-18-Sat-2006/sports/5940607.html

Fernando Vargas lifted his shirt to reveal a muscular, rippled abdomen. The last time he was so proud of his belly, he was reminded, was in 2002, a few days before he was to fight Oscar De La Hoya. And that was a few days before, much to his shock, Vargas learned he had failed a steroid test, costing him a cool $100,000.

Vargas sauntered into the IBA Gym on Wednesday to discuss his super welterweight fight against Shane Mosley, a pay-per-view bout next Saturday at Mandalay Bay. But there would be no workout, he said, at least not for the benefit of the two dozen media members and hangers-on who had gathered.

Those were Robert Ferguson's orders, Vargas explained.

Wearing a pristine white and Carolina blue sweatsuit, Ferguson said nothing, but his presence had a big impact on the proceedings. Just as it will, I suspect, when Vargas climbs into the ring against Mosley and tries to rebuild his career into some semblance of what it was before he ran face-first into the fists of Felix Trinidad and De La Hoya.

Ferguson is Vargas' strength and wellness coach, but his strongest influence appears to be over Vargas' mental state. The two-time super welterweight champion, desperate to prove he's not washed up at 28, sounds like he blindly follows Ferguson's every word.

"Robert Ferguson is the man when it comes to weight loss," Vargas said, later adding, "Robert Ferguson is a pure genius with this stuff."

But Vargas is not a naive and fiery street kid anymore. He's a savvy millionaire who, for all his snarling and bluster, makes very calculated decisions about his professional life.

Such wasn't the case in 2002 when he prepared to fight De La Hoya, his longtime bitter rival. Vargas was so desperate to not only defeat De La Hoya, but punish him and stamp out his legacy as boxing's Golden Boy, that he would do just about anything.

Someone in his entourage got the idea that a bigger and stronger Vargas would be that much more effective at laying knots on the side of De La Hoya's head.Vargas, whose distaste for De La Hoya rivals Dick Cheney's for the media, liked the idea.

He would get bigger.

But he failed to ask the central question that has haunted him throughout the 3 1/2 years since the anabolic steroid Stanozolol turned up in his system: How will I accomplish this?

According to Vargas, someone who worked for him during that pre-De La Hoya training camp in the mountains of Southern California — he's not sure who, or if he knows, he's choosing not to identify the person — spiked his nutritional drink, Decavar, with Stanozolol.

Suddenly it was understandable why a guy who never had much muscle definition would instantly resemble Arnold Schwarzenegger. Whoever gave Vargas the Stanozolol took the military approach: If he doesn't ask, I won't tell.

It never dawned on Vargas that his washboard abs weren't simply the product of hours in the gym.

But his secret was revealed by the postfight drug test. For that sin, he was given the second-most significant penalty in state history by the Nevada Athletic Commission. He was fined $100,000 and suspended for nine months, which cost him a fight and the large payday that went with it. Vargas not only hasn't had a big win since then, he hasn't had a big fight. He has faced a series of nondescript opponents, looking no better than mediocre while battling a balky back. Ferguson has tried not only to trim Vargas' weight, but change his lifestyle. Vargas laughingly conceded that he loves food and wants to eat as much as he can get away with. "I'm a negotiator," he said.

When he looks in the mirror now, he's more proud than when he first saw those rippling muscles in 2002. These muscles are natural, he said confidently. And as much as he trusts Ferguson, he doesn't take a thing anymore without knowing what it is.

"I see everything and question everything they're giving me," Vargas said. He feels, he said, much like he did nearly six years ago, when he scored the last significant victory, beating Ike Quartey. To defeat a fighter as gifted as Mosley, a man once regarded as the best in the world, Vargas will need to summon the skills he displayed against Quartey. If he does it, bet the ranch that a lot of other fighters will ask Vargas for Ferguson's telephone number.

Kevin Iole's boxing column is published Saturday. He can be reached at 396-4428 or at kiole@reviewjournal.com.