She has spent most of her life surrounded by boxers, so it's no surprise that Robin Vargas is good at the bob and weave.
Ask the West Toledoan who would win a fight between her oldest son, Dallas, and her youngest son, Devin, and she ducks from that haymaker.
“There is no way I'll answer that,” Robin Vargas says with a laugh. “I have to live with them.”
Devin, 19, defended his 201-pound weight class title May 5 in Reno, becoming just the fifth repeat heavyweight Golden Gloves champ since 1928. Devin Vargas defeated Charles Ellis in the final.
The victory came minutes after Dallas, 24, lost the 178-pound final to Cristobal Arreola.
Fox Sports Detroit will show both fights and others from the Golden Gloves tonight at 8. Fox Sports Ohio repeats the program on Saturday from 8-10 p.m.
“I wanted Devin to win,” said their father, Ray Vargas. “But everyone expected Devin to win. Dallas, well, everybody - and I mean everybody - was pulling for Dallas to win. Dallas, you didn't expect him to get to where he got.”
Everything in life has been a fight for Dallas. Born six weeks premature and severely hard of hearing, he graduated from Waite High School in 1995 instead of Start, his district school, because Waite offered special programs for his disability.
Legal deafness didn't prevent him from starting two seasons at defensive end for the Indians' football team.
“When I was in school, people thought that I was too stupid to play football,” Dallas said. “I just want people to know that people with a disability can do things, too.”
Like reading lips.
In one game against Rogers, it was as though Waite knew what plays the Rams were going to run.
They did.
Dallas watched lip movement in the Rogers huddle and intercepted the play calls.
The boxer's recent appearance in Reno was his call.
The week before the Golden Gloves, Dallas huddled with his doctor, who advised him not to go. The floating bone chips in his left arm needed attention.
Dallas said no, he was going.
That same day, Dallas bent over to tie his shoe and 30 minutes later he still couldn't get up - his back had given out.
When he finally made it to Reno after going to a chiropractor, he was four pounds over the 178-pound limit. While training to trim down, he threw his back out again.
“By Saturday, in the last round of the finals, he couldn't get out of the way of the punches,” said Ray, who along with Gil Yanez, trains both fighters.
After seeing his big brother lose, Devin was ready to walk out on his title fight.
“Devin came up to me and said, `I don't feel like fighting,'” Ray remembered. “I said, `You can't do that.' I told him, `Go out there and win this for Dallas.'”
Just like when he first started boxing, Devin - nursing a hyperextended left elbow - got in the ring because of Dallas.
“I looked up to Dallas and (23-year-old brother and fellow boxer) Dillon,” Devin said. “That's why I got into the sport - they were boxing and I wanted to be like them.
“I'm really proud of Dallas. My win wasn't as sweet because he didn't win. It would have been something if we both had won.”
Devin is in Lake Placid, N.Y., today, working out with the 2001 Goodwill Games team at the Olympic Training Center.
Selected as the United States heavyweight for the late summer competition in Brisbane, Australia, the 2000 Start graduate is also a top contender for the 2004 Olympic team.
“I knew my brother was going to be somebody (in the boxing world) when he beat (2000 Olympic silver medalist in the 139-pound weight class) Ricardo Williams twice when he was 8 years old,” said Dallas, who is back home in Toledo contemplating a professional career.
“Back then, I used to pick on him, I used to pick on him a lot. Now, he's bigger and he picks on me. Now, it's all for fun.”
Until the pair get into the ring head to head. In the interest of family harmony, though, Dallas and Devin rarely spar together anymore.
“I agree with my wife,” Ray said. “I'll plead the Fifth on that one, too.”
First Published May 14, 2001, 1:32 p.m.
