Even for the most ambitious developing fighter, the moments of truth in the ring typically come around only once every few months. In between, there is plenty of training, road work and other preparation, yes – but also idle time. Lots of it. Time to ponder and ruminate, second-guess and regret. Even doubt.

But Amado Vargas' doubt isn't his own. His confidence seems firm, and he doesn’t strike one interviewer as the type to run himself through the wringer of self-reflection. The doubt comes from without. Even in the relatively tiny window since his most recent fight – an eight-round majority decision win over Eduardo Hernandez Trejo on March 15 – he has had to answer, over and over, for something less than a spectacular performance. A win, sure – but an outlier. Reason enough to sow uncertainty.

Vargas' best answer would be a convincing win in Saturday’s featherweight matchup with Angel Luna at Gateway Center Arena in Atlanta’s College Park. But in the meantime, the question, in one form or another, has kept coming: Why the struggle?

“The dude was a big dude,” Vargas said. “He didn't even make weight. He was weighing in at 144. I weighed in at 140. It just wasn't my weight class.”

Vargas, one of the three fighting sons of former two-time junior middleweight titleholder Fernando Vargas, had mostly mowed down his competition before grappling with Trejo last month. Already facing the skepticism of a public that has seen one too many sports nepo babies, Amado, 12-0 (5 KOs), gave cynics all the evidence they needed by exhibiting something less than dominance. Was it the weight? Had he hit the prospect wall? Was he being spoiled by a slow play, coddled with too many soft-touch opponents on the way up?

His father, Fernando – who in his day locked horns with some of boxing’s best, and some of its biggest hitters, in Shane Mosley, Oscar De La Hoya, Felix Trinidad and Ike Quartey, among others – is quick to call bullshit. As his trainer and main advisor, Fernando says Amado is right where he expects him to be.

“Look, you're damned if you do and you're damned if you don't,” Fernando said. “When I was fighting these monsters, only 14 fights, I'm fighting Yory Boy Campos [72-2 at the time], and I'm fighting Ike Quartey next, and it’s, ‘Oh, he's fighting killers, it’s too early.’ And I fought Trinidad and, ‘Oh, they threw him to the wolves too soon.’ But then I'm going slow with my kids. and they're like, ‘Oh, they put up these bums,’ and … you can't win, you're not gonna win, you can never win!

“Well, I'm gonna do what I need to do as a father, as a trainer, for my boys. And that's why I'm gonna say, whether you like it or don't like it, I don't give a damn. I'm gonna do what I gotta do.”

That headstrong, bull-in-a-china-shop attitude (mostly) served Fernando well in his career, so he may have missed the irony when he spotted it in his son. The move up in weight, Fernando said, was “just being lazy,” a product of Amado thinking that “every fight is gonna be easy – and it’s not.” Trejo was the proof.

“Amado told me that he was going to fight at 140,” Fernando said. “I said, ‘You're not a 140-pounder, Amado.’ And he goes, ‘Dad, I'm going to fight at 140.’ I said, ‘Amado, you're not a 140-pounder, Amado. You're a 130-pounder. You got to sacrifice; every fighter sacrifices. You gotta sacrifice to get to where you want to get. He’s like, ‘Nah, dad, I’m gonna fight at 140.’ I was like, ‘Alright, cool. Do what you want to do.’ And so now he knows that he's not a 140-pounder.”

For his part, Amado called it a “learning experience,” and in the days since, he has melted his frame down to slip in a full three divisions down the scale – at featherweight. Sacrifice in the gym back home in North Las Vegas, running on the track – “It’s getting hot in Vegas,” Amado said – has yielded a leaner fighter. Will he be better than last time out?

Fernando said his son is stronger and more agile at featherweight, and he predicts a knockout of the Dominican Republic’s Luna, 20-15-1 (11 KOs). But Amado isn’t interested in such predictions. He’s focused on the win, comfortable with his newfound knowledge:

“Don't make it harder than what it is,” he said.

Jason Langendorf is the former Boxing Editor of ESPN.com, was a contributor to Ringside Seat and the Queensberry Rules, and has written about boxing for Vice, The Guardian, Chicago Sun-Times and other publications. A member of the Boxing Writers Association of America, he can be found at LinkedIn and followed on X and Bluesky.