John Iacono

Then in the 11th De La Hoya feinted with his right -- "I noticed he was squinting with every punch, even jabs; he was hurting" -- and came behind it with a sweeping left hook that caught Vargas flush. He went down suddenly, cartoonlike, then bounced up, also cartoonlike. But De La Hoya caught him against a ring post and battered him with 15 straight punches until the fight was, amazingly, called. The astonishment was not that De La Hoya had won, or even that he'd knocked out a formidable opponent (which he had not been doing as he climbed in weight). Hoopla aside, De La Hoya had been favored. The astonishment was that despite his apparent misgivings, De La Hoya delivered a passionate and colorful exercise of his talents. It wasn't the work of a dabbler, that's for sure. Just a fighter, doing what he does best, finally.

-from "Getting Down to Business" by Richard Hoffer, Sports Illustrated, Sept. 23, 2002