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Lassen: Vargas ready for career crossover : Other Sports : Ventura County Star

It will be the moment when Fernando Vargas' two professional lives intersect, the end of one career and the beginning of another, a goodbye and hello all wrapped up in a single evening.
Yet even with all of that, the final bout of his career is only part of what Vargas has on his plate these days.
As he works toward his farewell bout the meeting with Ricardo Mayorga tentatively set for Sept. 8 at a Los Angeles venue to be determined the 29-year-old from La Colonia is increasingly a diversified one-man corporation.
He won't just be the headliner on the September fight card. He'll also be the promoter.
He won't just be a boxing promoter, but will also handle Ultimate Fighting Championship events.
His boxing and UFC cards won't just feature fights, but also musical acts from rappers to ranchero singers under the umbrella of Vargas Entertainment Promotions.
Meanwhile, he still has his clothing line, he's expanding his real estate interests, he's preparing to open a sandwich shop, and he's just finished shooting his part in the second film of his nascent acting career.
Other than that, no, there's not much going on, thanks.
"It's great to be busy," says Vargas. "Imagine if you had nothing. I have to be here, I have to be there, but I always make time for my family."
Busy though he may be, time management doesn't figure to be the biggest challenge as Vargas promotes his final fight. More likely it will be skepticism.
His last outing the July loss to Shane Mosley in Las Vegas drew some harsh assessments in boxing circles. And even supporters, loyal as they have been, have to wonder about his ability to reach fighting fitness, after a recent pattern of struggling in the ring, and then admitting afterward that the intensity of the battle to make weight had left him little energy for the one in the ring.
Vargas, already working out daily with fitness coach Robert Ferguson, responds that the bout with Mayorga will be fought at 162 pounds, and that makes it an entirely different matter than the recent fights at 154, a weight he vowed never to reach again.
"That 8 pounds is the world," Vargas says, "and people don't understand that."
Joe Pecora, Vargas' business manager and trusted personal advisor, has his own response.
"If I actually thought he was shot," says Pecora, "this wouldn't happen. I don't care who it was (against)."
The final argument, more implied than explicit, is Vargas is coming back because his showing against Mosley, and the reaction to it, left a bad taste in his mouth. If, as he says, this fight is "for pride" don't be surprised if that ends up being the promotional tagline then he clearly believes he's capable of departing on far better terms.
Oxnard native Fernando Vargas, left, shown fighting Shane Mosley last July, says he will retire from boxing after his bout with Ricardo Mayorga on Sept. 8. Vargas plans to stay involved in the sport as a promoter.

"I've got one more great fight in me," he says. "People can say what they want to say."
Whatever happens, he vows, this is his last time in the ring.
"This will be the last hurrah," he says. "Win, lose or draw. That's it."
While few things in this world are less definitive than a boxing retirement, Vargas won't lack for reasons to stick to his vow. Given all the things he has going on, the challenge for September's fight may be as much one of making time as weight.
He is, for example, getting a kick out of his foray into acting. His appearance in the film "Alpha Dog" generated other offers, but since the entertainment industry rivals boxing in shady dealings, as well as outsized personalities, Pecora was careful to align him with a known agent Jack Gilardi from the Hollywood power ICM to sort through the opportunities. As a result, he spent part of last week filming a part in "Stiletto," starring Tom Berenger.
"I get killed in this movie," he says, laughing at the turn of events that has him building a résumé on the Internet Movie Database to go with the one on the Boxing Records Archive. "I'm honored and humbled by the idea that people want to see my ugly mug on TV."
He's carefully building his promotional firm, having signed his own health and fitness coach, Robert Ferguson, to help his fighters, and reached agreement with Alfonso Gomez, a boxer from the TV series "The Contender." By September, his plan is to have a number of his boxers on his undercard.
"I know what it is to fight for your money and fight for your life," he says. "I will guarantee that I will fight for their money and we'll try to make them as much money as we can, because the more money they make, the more money we make."
Says Pecora, "The buzz is out already. We're getting calls from fighters every day."
Meanwhile, he keeps expanding his real-estate holdings he'll soon have his own local office building, leaving his leased, high-visibility space just off the 101 between Camarillo and Oxnard. When the sign for his Nawshis clothing line goes down, he says, "I don't want people to think I'm out of business."
On top of that, there's the clothing line. There's the probability he'll be opening a Subway sandwich shop in Camarillo. ("My wife loves Subway," he said. "My kids love Subway. Hey, I'll get my own Subway, and also make some money.") And there's no telling what business opportunities tomorrow may bring.
First, though, there's a bit of ring business to attend to, as both a last act and a starting point.
Contact Star columnist David Lassen at dlassen@VenturaCountyStar.com.

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