Just 18, he was well aware that in the Games he wasn't favored to beat Russia's Oleg Saitov or Cuba's Juan Hernández, two of the world's best amateur welterweights, and instead looked beyond the Olympic podium.

"I want to turn pro and have that fame and glory," Vargas told The Ring at the time.

Promoters and managerial firms courted Vargas and arranged for monthly training stipends, as others had for Vargas' Olympic teammates Floyd Mayweather and David Reid. There were even bonuses for winning tournaments, and six-figure prizes for Olympic gold. As expected, Vargas held his own but lost in the round of 16.

The one thing Vargas wanted, and perhaps more than anything, was inevitable comparisons to fellow Mexican-American Southern Californian Oscar De La Hoya to cease immediately.

It was a paradoxical problem, however: Vargas barked at interviewers who asked about Oscar, yet he would often take that opportunity to talk more about "The Golden Boy," which was likely to his own benefit.

Vargas was no Olympic darling, at least. He was far rougher-cut than De La Hoya too. But the comparisons returned when Vargas became a world champion in 1998 and proceeded to run through a chunk of the junior middleweight division, including fellow Olympian (from another year) Raul Marquez and tricky southpaw Winky Wright, under the Main Events promotional banner.

A year before Vargas was profiled by The Ring ahead of the Olympics, Ike Quartey was featured for winning the WBA welterweight title. Quartey couldn’t avoid being compared to predecessors, either, though virtually no fighters from Ghana would even want to avoid being compared to the great Azumah Nelson, every Ghanaian fighter’s favorite fighter.

Quartey represented Ghana at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, and like Vargas he was eliminated before medaling. He also had a style better suited for the pros than the amateur ranks. As Nelson’s career obviously wound down, Ghana looked toward Quartey to fill the oncoming void.

Following a good four-fight series between 1996 and 1997 that saw Quartey go 3-0-1, he lined up to face pound-for-pound technician Pernell “Sweet Pea” Whitaker. It was a great matchup on paper pitting blistering offense from Quartey against the slippery defense of Whitaker, but was ruined when Whitaker tested positive for cocaine following his win over Andrey Pestryaev. Whitaker-Quartey was trashed and Quartey lost a year of his time.

To make matters worse, Quartey returned to fight De La Hoya in February 1999, but after being stripped of his world title. De La Hoya then nicked a split decision and never looked back as he pointed himself toward a massive fight with Félix Trinidad, which he infamously lost.

In early 2000, Vargas signed a multi-fight deal with HBO through Main Events, and literally minutes later announced a Quartey showdown at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. Once again it seemed Vargas failed to escape the gravitational pull of Oscar De La Hoya.

Quartey spent a portion of his training camp figuring out ways to funnel his money to needy people back in Ghana, like auctioning off tickets to the Vargas fight, airfare, a pass to be in Quartey’s corner before and after the fight and more on eBay. For a significant part of his own camp, Vargas went back to one of his favorite subjects.

"If you ask me, if there is one guy who really did beat De La Hoya, it’s not Trinidad, it’s Quartey," Vargas said a few days before the bout. "There's nobody who can say anything bad about this guy, because he is about as good as it gets."

The usually-laidback Quartey chose to poke at Vargas in response: "Oscar is definitely better than [Vargas]. Who has he fought? Look at Oscar. He has fought [Julio César] Chavez, Ike Quartey, Felix Trinidad, everybody out there. Vargas hasn't fought anyone like that."

In addition to Las Vegas sports books making Quartey a 3-to-1 underdog, a pair of legendary trainers piled on. Eddie Futch and Emanuel Steward picked Vargas to get the win, while Angelo Dundee sided with Quartey.

Sporting his signature short bleached hair, Quartey landed a heap of good jabs in the opening round. His problem was Vargas' right hand, which generally wasn't even his best punch, kept landing over Quartey's shoulder. The action was close, and it remained so throughout much of the fight.

Vargas pulled ahead early by using his footwork to make Quartey pursue him before pivoting and out-jabbing him, and occasionally forcing the Ghanaian back to the ropes, where Vargas unloaded. In round three, Vargas lost some momentum when his output dropped, then he lost a point for low blows in round four.

It was an attention-holding fight. Both fighters swung hard and often, neither avoided combat and both readily lashed out when challenged. Vargas was simply doing more, whether it was moving, punching, throwing in combination or using his defense.

Vargas slowed down as rounds wore on, and finally in round nine Quartey broke through and connected with a series of right hands that hurt the young star. A lost mouthpiece bought Vargas a few much-needed seconds, and he survived the round to exchange heavy shots with Quartey in the 10th.

Then Vargas did what few expected he could when he actually found the fuel in his tank to pick up his pace in the last two rounds, where he out-maneuvered and out-worked Quartey. Though the action was close almost the entire way, there was no doubt the younger fighter deserved the decision judges handed him.

"Ike Quartey is a warrior and a great champion, but I wasn't going to be denied," Vargas said after the bout.

Vargas was paid more than $1.3 million for the victory, so there was the money he sought. Fame and glory were still on their way, courtesy of an incredible fight with Félix Trinidad that came later that year.

In the meantime, Vargas had to settle for one-upping Oscar De La Hoya.