The Mexican people loved Fernando Vargas because of his warrior heart.
Known for taking hard fights as quickly as possible, ‘El Feroz’ was on hand last week in Stockton to announce the next for Vargas Dynasty, a fight in Stockton on Saturday, March 16.
Vargas reflected on his own story when speaking to the media about the importance of being involved in the lives of his three sons. His oldest son, Fernando Jr. who fights on the card, was in attendance while his father gave the speech
“People ask me if I wanted my kids to fight, and I say ‘no’,” Vargas told ProBox TV, with a chuckle. “[My friend said it best], He said, ‘Champ who is going to tell them they can’t be like their dad’. So I got to support them.”
“When I found boxing, I was already locked up in juvenile hall, hundreds of hours of community service for batteries and thefts. One day I was suspended from school for fighting. What do you do at the house, watch TV. I was watching TV and amateur boxing came on. I said, ‘What the hell?’ Kids my age, I was 12-years-old at the time, and kids as young as eight were fighting with headgear and winning trophies. I said I could do that.
“I was a kid that never backed down from anything.”
Now Vargas has three sons – Fernando Jr., Amado, and Emiliano – and they all fight in March. Emiliano boxes on March 29 on a Top Rank card in Arizona. Fernando Jr will be the co-main event in Stockton. Gabriel Flores Jr will be the main event, and brother Amado will also be featured on the card.
Vargas discussed taking ownership of his last name and the importance of its legacy. It is no wonder the Vargas family often talks about the Vargas Dynasty, especially since it was USA Boxing and the amateur system that seemingly made many aware of that last name.
“Everyone [doesn’t know] that through school, through kindergarten to junior high I was Fernando Chavez,” Vargas said. “That was under my mom’s maiden name. They said when I started boxing I had to use what was on my birth certificate - Fernando Javier Vargas. I was like, ‘I am not going to use [this man’s] name. Why am I going to use this [man’s name], he was never a part of my life?’”
Vargas, a former world champion and Oxnard legend, now coaches all three of his sons and reflected on his decision to use his father’s name to compete.
“I remember the day I got my USA Boxing passbook, I was already a man at 12-years-old,” said Vargas. “Let me tell you why; at 12 I remember crying [and] I was so mad [that I had to use my father’s name]. I said, ‘Fuck it’. Vargas is going to start with me, and I am going to make it a name to be proud of, and I am going to give it to my wife and kids one day, and I am going to be in my kids' life. They are going to know what a real man is.”
