My thought is that Vargas recovered physically, but never recovered 100% mentally after the brutal punishment he received from Tito. I remember (I made a post recently and mentioned this) Vargas come back after Trinidad's fight against Wilfredo Rivera. Rivera had his greatest moment against the Sweetpea in their first fight at 147 where Rivera seemed to be robed from that victory. This required an immediate rematch, but this time Pernell dominated clearly. After that Rivera lost with De La Hoya and Mosley both by TKO and started the declining of his career. Rivera did not have a KO punch and was declining, but hurt and dropped Vargas to the canvas practically KO. But, Rivera looked more surprised than Vargas not trowing punches, and he probably needed just 1 punch considering how badly Vargas was hurt. This was a clear indication that Vargas was not the same at that time. And, I feel this had some influence on how his fight with De La Hoya ended. However, I recognize De La Hoya is a great fighter, and the end could be the same, or most likely by decision instead of KO. We will not a definite answer to this question.