The following year he solidified his position as one of the premier amateur fighters in the world by winning the 132 lb gold medal at the Olympic Festival, seizing the U.S.

Eager to turn pro and begin his march toward a world championship, Vargas "ferociously" followed his physical therapy program, and within five months he was ready for his professional debut.

Vargas and four friends were originally charged with assault with a deadly weapon and conspiracy to commit a crime stemming from a July 25, 1999, altercation at a Summerland, California home.

Vargas continued his comeback, on December 12, with a seventh-round knockout of Tony Marshall that was shown live nationwide from Tucson, on TeleFutura.

This caused him to spend almost two years in inactivity, but, on March 26, 2005, he returned to boxing with a ten-round unanimous decision win over Ray Joval in Corpus Christi, Texas.

On August 20, 2005, he returned to the boxing ring to fight fellow former world light middleweight champion Javier Castillejo of Spain.

In a tightly contested battle, Vargas' left eye became grotesquely swollen and referee Joe Cortez decided to stop the fight in the 10th round to minimize further damage, granting a technical knockout (TKO) victory to Mosley.

The reasoning behind the stoppage, explained Nevada State Athletic Commission czar Marc Ratner, was that the referee and the fight doctor deemed that Vargas was unable to defend himself adequately against Mosley's right-hand shots.

In the post fight press conference, Vargas made it clear that he would resume his boxing career and stated that a rematch with Mosley should be in order because the match was stopped on a technicality.

ESPN boxing expert Dan Rafael wrote: "Vargas is so utterly delusional about what actually happened in his first fight with Mosley that we think he might have a concussion.

It was confirmed on May 13, 2007, that Vargas would face Ricardo Mayorga on September 8, 2007, on Showtime PPV for the vacant WBC Continental Americas super middleweight title.

It was confirmed that after a three-year hiatus, former world champion Fernando Vargas would return to the boxing ring against super middleweight Henry Buchanan on April 16, 2011, at Hard Rock Casino in Las Vegas.

[7] He also participated, alongside Judith Grace, Maripily, Pedro Rivera and Sissi Fleitas, among others, in the Telemundo reality contest, Top Chef Celebrity.