No Castaway

People don’t usually run down Crescent Avenue, Avalon’s main street on Santa Catalina Island. They wander, poking their heads into the colorful shops, stopping for sand dabs or buffalo milk in one of the oceanfront restaurants. Shaking off the sand from the adjacent beaches, they are really shaking off the cares and concerns of the mainland, 22 miles away.

But Fernando Vargas is a man on the run. For him, Crescent Avenue and the roads winding through the surrounding hills are paths to be traveled at a furious, heart-pounding pace. He has come to Catalina to shake off the rust of inactivity, to reinvigorate a body weakened by devastating punches and debilitating injuries.

Many in boxing assumed they’d seen the last of Vargas. They’d seen him brutally beaten by Felix Trinidad in December 2000, when Vargas was knocked down five times. They’d seen him apparently finished off by Oscar De La Hoya, who left Vargas on the canvas at Las Vegas’ Mandalay Bay Events Center in September 2002.

Fighters who take so many damaging blows often never recover. Vargas’ problems weren’t limited to the fists of his opponents. He was suspended after the De La Hoya fight when he tested positive for steroids. He subsequently suffered a ruptured disk in his back and a malfunctioning thyroid.

The medical problems limited his ability to resume his career. Since the night he pulled his battered body off the canvas after losing to De La Hoya, Vargas has fought twice -- against lightly regarded opponents. He beat Fitz Vanderpool in July 2003 and Tony Marshall in December of that year, each by technical knockouts.

But now he’s back, training on Catalina for a fight March 26 against Ray Joval in Corpus Christi, Texas.

After all the physical difficulties Vargas has been through, why would he subject himself to the possibility of serious injury? Most boxers do it because they need the money.

Not Vargas.

Emulating his former foe, De La Hoya, who is building a financial empire, Vargas, with the help of manager Rolando Arellano and business manager Joe Pecora, is following the same course.

Vargas, whose ring nickname is Ferocious, oversees:

* An investment company with 50 properties in his hometown of Oxnard and Bakersfield.

* The fledgling Nawshis Clothing Company.

* An entertainment company that includes a record label and the promotion of singer Samuel Hernandez.

* Boxing. Arellano and Vargas are managing the career of Mexican junior-welterweight Daniel Cervantes.

* A cellphone and dish network sales and service provider.

Vargas also has a role in an upcoming movie, “Alpha Dog,” with Bruce Willis, Sharon Stone and Justin Timberlake.

All of which prompts the question, why risk it all by getting back in harm’s way?

“I don’t want to look back on my career when it’s over and feel I shoulda, coulda, woulda,” Vargas said. “I don’t want to think later that I should have kept going.”

Vargas attended a few fights during his forced absence and, hearing the buzz from the crowd, the sound of the cheers and the pounding of glove against flesh, his hunger resurfaced.

“I thought to myself, ‘Wow, I miss this. I miss being in the middle of this,’ ” he said.

His medical problems -- cleared up through diet and exercise, he says -- are no longer a barrier to his comeback.

Neither, says Arellano, are Vargas’ financial holdings.

“Fernando represents all of his business entities, but he’s not truly involved at this stage,” Arellano said. “Eventually, when he gets too old for boxing, and he fully understands the day-to-day operations of business, he will take over the leadership of his companies. There is a lot to it, from distribution to marketing to return on investment.”

Arellano has no qualms about Vargas’ effectiveness in the ring.

“This break has been the best thing that could happen to him,” the manager said. “He has let his body heal, and he has let his mind heal. He can still be a very big draw in boxing. He’s been around so long, people forget he’s only 27.”

And so Vargas and his handlers have returned to the familiar job of boxing in unfamiliar surroundings. They are renting several units in Hamilton Cove, a condominium development two bays up the coast from Avalon.

Vargas runs in the morning, then, in the afternoon, heads for a dilapidated building that once served as Avalon’s city hall. In an upstairs room almost entirely taken up by a ring, he spars daily under the guidance of new trainer Danny Smith.

Again, Vargas is emulating De La Hoya, who, like Vargas, has abandoned Big Bear as a training site.

“I hate the snow,” said Vargas. “I get depressed just thinking about how hard it was to work up there in the high altitude.”

Vargas says he much prefers waking up in Hamilton Cove and breathing the salty air of the sea. “This is the best camp I’ve ever had,” he said, “There are different vibes here. A different atmosphere. I almost feel like I’m in another country.”

Vargas acknowledges he has one weakness from the old days that he can’t completely put out of mind: Mexican food.

“No more tacos,” he said. “But just thinking about them still makes me hungry.”

Vargas says he will have lost nearly 30 pounds by fight time. He plans to fight Joval at 161 pounds, then make it back down to his old weight category, 154 pounds, by his next fight.

“I feel healthy,” he said. “When I’ve got to stop fighting, I will. And with my businesses, I will not be a fighter who ends up with nothing at the end of the day. God has been good to me.”