BoxRec

Was it a false memory? An instance of persecution mania? The manifestation of an inferiority complex? Did it ever really happen? Somewhere along the way, the resentment Fernando Vargas felt against Oscar De La Hoya, his SoCal rival, who cast a long shadow from barrio to barrio, mutated into raw hatred. Spleen. Obsession. And it was all because of an incident that may or may not have taken place. For Vargas, this tale—true or not—may have been the textual generator he needed to rouse himself for a pitched battle. Ever since he had turned pro after representing the U.S. in the 1996 Olympics, Vargas had been trying to goad De La Hoya into a fight. He made cryptic references to the event that led to a vendetta. “I had a chance to spar with Oscar when I was a kid,” Vargas told Eric Raskin in 2002, “and there was a personal incident that happened, which I’m not going to speak about. But in the ring, after the fight, God willing, I beat him, I’m going to speak about it and hopefully word it in a way that he cannot deny that it’s true. He never knew that snot-nosed kid was going to grow up to be ‘El Feroz.’”

https://hannibalboxing.com/vendetta-osc ... lood-feud/