Last week I began my column by stating that matchmaking is not rocket science. I wrote about what a great fight-of-the-year type matchup J.C. Candelo versus Julio "The Cuban Lover" Garcia was, and how there was no doubt that the fight (which aired on ESPN last Saturday night) would deliver on its promise.

	J.C. Candelo might be a good match for Fernando Vargas.

I still say match-making is not rocket science. But I have to admit, there is algebra involved. Great fights require balanced equations.

Throughout his young career, Garcia has always come forward throwing punches, and Candelo has shown a willingness throughout his career to engage opponents on the inside, despite his good height and reach. Neither fighter had ever really shown a devastating punch, but both had shown strong resolve. Candelo's skill and experience figured to carry the day, but on paper at least, it looked as though it would be a day to remember.

At the opening bell, Garcia rushed Candelo, pushed him against the ropes and opened fire with both hands. Candelo returned fire and it looked like the war was on. "Just as I said," I thought to myself, "this is not rocket science! Put two guys like this in the ring together and you can't miss!"

But then a funny thing happened on the way to the Fight Of The Year. Candelo began to dominate.

The algebra didn't add up. There was no equal sign between the two fighters. Instead the equation looked like this: Candelo > Garcia. As resolute as Garcia was, all the heart in the world would not have been enough to overcome his skill and experience deficit against Candelo. And Garcia in fact has all the heart in the world. To make matters worse for "The Cuban Lover," on top of Candelo's obvious advantages, J.C. also enjoyed a more subtle one -- an advantage in style.

Their styles were the reason the fight was supposed to be so great. Early in his career, Candelo often negated his own usually sizeable height and reach advantages and engaged his opponents on the inside. Candelo always fought well in the trenches, but in so doing he gave his usually shorter, usually less skilled opponents chances they otherwise would not have enjoyed had he kept them at arms distance.

After dropping split decisions in consecutive fights in late 1999 and early 2000 against fellow rising prospects Michael Lerma and Alex Bunema, it looked as though Candelo had found his level as a lower-echelon contender.

But then, in his very next fight, J.C. took on undefeated Gary "Fast Hands" Jones. A loss in that contest would have relegated the lanky junior middleweight from Buenaventura, Columbia, who was only 26 at the time, to steppingstone status. But J.C. stopped Jones, and then went on to gain revenge with a unanimous decision win against Lerma in their rematch.

Then on the undercard of the Oscar De La Hoya-Fernando Vargas superfight for junior middleweight supremacy last September, Candelo gave Oscar's real No. 1 contender, Winky Wright, all he could handle. Though Candelo lost the decision, he opened eyes with his performance against one of the top 154-pounders in the world.

Those eyes are now open even wider after Candelo's dismantling of Garcia. Garcia never stopped pushing forward, never stopped forcing the action, and as a result, he never stopped taking punches.

Candelo never looked better in his career. He couldn't miss, lashing out with both hands from the outside and getting the better of it on the inside too. Garcia fell twice in the eighth and the fight was stopped.

***

Later that night over on HBO, Fernando Vargas' comeback fight against Fitzroy Vanderpool turned out more or less the way we all expected it would. Vargas was rusty, and it showed. He tried to force the action against the seemingly frightened Vanderpool, and though he won every round, "El Feroz" was unable to get a rhythm going, continually falling into Vanderpool's awkward clinches after landing one or two punches.

After five rounds of Fernando chasing and Fitzroy running, Vargas' new trainer Buddy McGirt showed once again why he might be the best trainer in the business. In an effort to get across the importance of Vargas taking his time and not trying to rush things, McGirt told his new charge, who in his over-anxiousness ate a few Vanderpool counters in the fifth, "I don't care if this guy is falling down, do not go straight in!"

The way McGirt delivered his message clearly resonated with Fernando. From that point on, rather than repeatedly running into Vanderpool straight on, Vargas would get inside, land a few punches and then step out again. Rinse and repeat. Vanderpool didn't last the round.

There has been talk about Vargas fighting Javier Castillejo next. Castillejo is a good opponent. He is a solid, though unexceptional, boxer with a good amount of world class experience. Most importantly, he is not a big hitter. Even should Vargas struggle, he is unlikely to lose, and even less likely to get hurt. Were I handling Vargas' career, Castillejo would be the way I would go.

But were I looking to make a good fight, were I looking to find out whether Fernando Vargas is still an elite junior middleweight, I would put him in with J.C. Candelo.

At this point, J.C. is on the threshold of upper-echelon 154 pound status. He couldn't get past Winky, but then, Fernando himself barely did. Many still believe that the majority decision Vargas received over Wright two and a half years ago should have gone the other way.

Not that anyone involved in Vargas' career would ever think of putting him in with J.C. right now. The algebra of that particular equation is: risk > reward. But the winner of a Vargas-Candelo fight would certainly have earned another shot at the top of the division.

Max Kellerman is a studio analyst for ESPN2's "Friday Night Fights" and the host of the show "Around The Horn."