Fernando Vargas vs. Shane Mosley
Fernando Vargas vs. Shane Mosley, billed as Showdown, was a professional boxing match contested on February 25, 2006. The bout was a WBA super welterweight title eliminator.
Background
In late October 2005, it was reported that negotiations between 3-division world champion Shane Mosley and 2-time light middleweight champion Fernando Vargas had begun for a potential fight between the two in early 2006. Both fighters were looking to get their respective careers back on track as Mosley had lost consecutive light middleweight title fights in 2004 to Ronald "Winky" Wright and had faced marginal competition in 2005 while Vargas has not fought for a world title since losing to Oscar De La Hoya in 2002 and had spent over year out of boxing following a back injury before finally returning in 2005, winning both of his comeback fights that year. Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer, who promoted Mosley, mentioned that in addition to Vargas, Mosley was also looking at facing either Floyd Mayweather Jr. or Zab Judah but mentioned that getting the Mosley–Vargas fight was a priority, stating "the Vargas fight is the right fight for Shane, and that Shane is the right fight for Vargas. So we'll keep talking. Hopefully, we can put it together."After over a month of negotiations, the bout was made official in late November to take place on February 25, 2006 on HBO pay-per-view. Though Mosley had fought as a welterweight in both of his 2005 fights, the fight was contested at the 154-pound light middleweight limit where Vargas had spent the majority of his professional career.