PROSPECT WATCH: Emiliano Vargas By Michael Rosenthal
F ilmmakers recently approached promoter Bob Arum about a project they were planning, a movie about his onetime protege Oscar De La Hoya. The plot, they told Arum, will focus in part on the fan reception – particularly among adoring young women, who Arum remembers “went crazy” – when The Golden Boy fought Patrick Charpentier at El Paso’s Sun Bowl in 1998. De La Hoya’s good looks and charisma, combined with his ability, made heads spin. The filmmakers asked him whether he knew a good candidate to play De La Hoya in fight scenes. The first name to
come to his mind: Emiliano Vargas, a rising prospect and son of De La Hoya’s most bitter rival in the past, Fernando Vargas. “Wouldn’t it be something to have a Vargas playing De La Hoya?” Arum said. Arum didn’t think of the younger Vargas solely because of the boxer’s pretty face and magnetism, although he has been blessed with those qualities. The 21-year-old junior welterweight also reminds Arum of a young De La Hoya in the ring – skillful, quick-handed, powerful and possessing a you- have-no-chance-to-beat-me swagger. De La Hoya became the face of boxing in the 1990s and
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