Boxing
Rafael Marquez beats Israel Vasquez!

By Frank Gonzalez Jr.

Hardcore boxing fans got a real treat Saturday night in Carson California when IBF Bantamweight Champ, Rafael Marquez (37-3, 33 KO’s) brought his cool, killer instinct to the ring to meet one of the most dangerous fighters on the planet, WBC Super Bantamweight Champion Israel Vasquez (41-4, 31 KO’s). Two great fighters in their prime taking on each other are the perfect ingredients for a hell of a fight.

Heavyweights may have made boxing famous but it’s the lighter weight fighters that are the real heartbeat of boxing.

31-year-old Rafael Marquez is the brother of Featherweight boxing Titleist, Juan Manuel Marquez. Rafael is on a seven-year winning streak. His resume includes impressive wins over Mark Johnson, Tim Austin, Mauricio Pastrana, Peter Frissina, and Heriberto Ruiz before silencing Mabuza twice and showed incredible poise after being floored by Israel Vasquez last night.

His brother JM says Rafael is the power puncher and he’s the boxer but it seems that Rafael has evolved into a overall well rounded prize fighter that boxes as well as he slugs.

If you been paying attention to Israel Vasquez’ career, you know he is one of the most exciting fighters in the sport. There’s nothing flashy about his style, he is not a big talker that makes a lot of noise and I bet most casual fight fans never heard of him. But this boy can pug! He can be getting whacked by punches and look ready to be chopped down and then suddenly—POW! He knocks a guy out with a big punch that seemed to come out of nowhere. His power is as unmistakable, as Jose Luis Valbuena, Art
Simonyan, Oscar Larios and Jhonny Gonzalez can attest. His showdown with Rafael Marquez was a fight to remember and hopefully, one we’ll be see a rematch soon, as both guys deserve another dose of each other.

The Fight

Round 1
Rafael Marquez looked a little sharper with his punches in the first round, landing a few clean blows, one of which drew blood from Vasquez’ nose. Vasquez kept coming forward with punches, some landing but nothing flush. Late in the round, Marquez stunned Vasquez with a big right that landed flush. 10-9 Marquez.

Round 2
They traded punches, Marquez landing the harder shots, looking intense as ever. Vasquez rallied a few times but again, nothing flush. Marquez lead rights prove most effective. 10-9 Marquez.

Round 3
Vasquez put the pressure on Marquez, who countered well and scored with a big right hand that rocked Vasquez. It was looking like Marquez would have his way with Vasquez until Vasquez landed a sneaky left hook followed by a right that floored Marquez. After the count, Vasquez kept the pressure on but Marquez was able to get his legs back pretty quickly. You could feel the
caution in Marquez body language in reaffirmation of how dangerous Vasquez is. 10-8 Vasquez.

Round 4
Both fighters do a lot of bodywork. Vasquez left eye is reddened as Marquez’ crisp punching found that target frequently. Marquez was in a zone and recaptured the momentum he built earlier and was landing clean shots from all angles, closing out the round with a beat down of the man who just put him on his seat in round 3. Never a dull moment. Marquez 10-9.

Round 5
There was a lot of action in the back and forth battle for the fifth, with both throwing and landing. Marquez punches always a little sharper. Vasquez cracked Marquez, then Marquez stunned Vasquez, who gave himself a sort of time out to consider what looked like a broken nose. Marquez jumped all over him. Vasquez knew the rule of ‘always protect yourself’ and embraced the
slugfest that ensued, landing a few and taking a few more. What a round! By the end of the round, it was clear that Vasquez was injured, his nose was starting to swell up in an awkward way up high near the eyebrows. 10-9 Marquez.

Round 6
Vasquez nose was broken and bleeding and seemingly causing him problems breathing but he sucked up the pain and continued to duke it out with the relentless Marquez, who was getting the better shots off all night. 10-9 Marquez.

Round 7
It was more of the same in the seventh, with Marquez dominating the scoring and Vasquez appearing to have problems with the nose injury. He then retired on his stool, because he couldn’t breathe. It was over. Marquez was the winner by TKO 7 and the new owner of the WBC Super Bantamweight Title Belt.

*

Congratulations to Rafael Marquez, who fought a brilliant fight against a man who is arguably one of the best he’s ever faced. There was no, “bad blood” and no bad manners in the end, just two warriors with a lot of respect and admiration for each other. Vasquez expressed that he would like a rematch and Marquez said Vasquez deserved one. Marquez had nothing but flattering words to describe Vasquez and was particularly impressed with the fact that Vasquez put him on his seat in the third round. From a business standpoint, a rematch against Vasquez is a very dangerous proposition. But Marquez is a true Champion, business be damned, he wants a rematch too. Ahh…the true spirit of competition, unimpeded by money interests. Well, lets see if the politicians…ahem, I mean, the Promoters can make it happen.

Marquez demonstrated some very fine boxing and punching skills, so expect him to be the favorite to win the rematch. But don’t count Vasquez out, his power and spirit are the thing boxing dreams are made of.


Marquez rips title away from Vazquez

By Anthony Coleman

Well, I guess I was right: this fight was an unpredictable affair. After the performance he put forth against Jhonny Gonzales and his “I’m ready to die” in that ring comments, nobody expected Israel Vazquez to give up his Junior Featherweight title. Yet that is exactly what he did. Actually, he simply didn’t give up his title; Rafael Marquez forced his Vazquez to quit by breaking his nose early in the bout with hard power-shots delivered by A+ combinations. It was truly a great performance by Marquez, as he finally stepped out of the shadow of his brother.

Now I must say that the ending of this fight was disappointing. This fight was heating up and turning into a stand-up brawl and Vazquez’s body work were seemingly beginning to tilt the scales to him.

The crowd of over five thousand at the arena and watching this fight in their houses were anxiously and impatiently waiting for the 8th round to begin and to see what Raffy and Izzy would do next. Then suddenly, shockingly; Vazquez orders the fight to be stopped. If that doesn’t leave a sour taste in your mouth, than I don’t know what will..

However, the ending of this fight shouldn’t take away what was a truly great fight for seven rounds. As I stated in an earlier article, this fight was for the boxing fan and Marquez and Vazquez proved my point correctly.

For most of the bout, there weren’t any wild exchanges, but the action was still top notch. This was a technical boxing clinic. Both men boxed from the outside with their jabs and went to work behind incredible (yes I do mean incredible) combinations. What impressed me about both men’s work was the fact that they were able to maintain exciting action by simply boxing. Indeed, there was not a dull moment in this bout. Whether it was simply jabbing from the outside, throwing counterpunches or placing creative combination punches together, both men were able to keep the crowd enthrall over seven brutal rounds. Even the subtle strategic movement of both men drew a positive reaction from the crowd. This fight was definitely for the hardcore boxing fan.

The fight truly started to turn into a brawl after Marquez was dropped hard by a Vazquez left hook in the third round. At that point both men continued to box, but were more willing to stand toe to toe and brawl it out. Rounds six and seven featured awesome trench battling from both men as Vazquez made his way inside to hunt for Marquez’s ribs, often finding success with his left hook to the body. Then in the seventh, after eating another Marquez straight right cross to the nose, Vazquez answered back with his own left hook-right cross combination which buzzed Marquez. Then as we know, the fight was over at that point, yet it won’t diminish the performance of both men. For my money, this is one of the best fights that went less than 10 rounds I have ever seen. Hopefully a rematch can be made.

The story of this bout was Rafael Marquez. I’ve said it once, I’ve said it twice, and I’ll say it again: the man is the best puncher and offensive fighter in the game today. Nobody combines power, accuracy and combinations better than this man. Before the fight I said that Vazquez was a better combination puncher than Marquez, and Marquez proved me wrong by putting together some of the best combinations I’ve ever seen. He threw a lightning fast and hard jab then followed it up with a left uppercut and right-cross. His combinations tonight were reminiscent of the ones thrown by Terry Norris nearly fifteen years ago. By the time of the stoppage, Marquez’s heavy continuous combos had busted up Vazquez’s face into a mask of cuts and bruises. Truly this was one of Marquez’s greatest performances and with this win he sets himself up for a lucrative rematch with Vazquez or a showdown with fellow titlists Daniel Ponce De Leon or Celestino Caballero. Right now Marquez is on top of the world. Not only is he THE 122 pound champion, but he is practically guaranteed a spot on every boxing writer’s pound-for-pound list.

As for Vazquez, he didn’t really embarrass himself, except maybe in the eyes of those who can’t understand the true dangers of boxing. Look, boxing is one of the most dangerous sports of them all, and death in the ring is a tragic reality. So knowing these facts, I can’t understand how some of boxing fandom can just call Vazquez a “quitter” or “gutless” for doing the right thing. If a fighter has had enough or if they can’t breathe because of a broken nose, you should respect his wishes to retire from the bout. It is his health and not your own. Speaking of injured boxers, I hope and pray that Victor Burgos will recover from the horrible beat down he absorbed from Vic Darchiniyan.

All and all, Marquez-Vazquez was a great fight that was marred by a disappointing ending. I loved what I saw from both men and I hope we see a rematch. These two fine pugilists have unfinished business with one another and the fans would like to see it resolved. Until a rematch can be made, I’ll just entertain myself with watching this fight again and again when I feel the need to.


Marquez KOs Vazquez; Darchinyan stops Burgos

CARSON, Calif. (March 4, 2007) – After breaking his opponent’s nose in the first round of an electrifying bout, IBF Bantamweight Champion Rafael Marquez captured the World Boxing Council (WBC) super bantamweight title by stopping defending champion Israel Vazquez at the end of the seventh round Saturday on Showtime championship boxing.

Vazquez asked his trainer, Freddie Roach, to stop the contest because he was having trouble breathing.

“I was able to breathe through my mouth, but I couldn’t get any air through my nose,” Vazquez said. “I couldn’t breathe. I was taking a lot of shots because of that.” ..

After rallying from a third-round knockdown, Marquez went toe-to-toe with Vazquez for the remainder of the non-stop action bout that lived up to its billing. At the time of the stoppage, Marquez led the battle of Mexico City, Mexico, natives 67-65 twice and 66 apiece on the scorecards. Discussions for a sequel to the “Fight of the Year” candidate already are underway.

SHOWTIME televised both world championship bouts at 9 p.m. ET/PT. Gary Shaw Productions, LLC, Sycuan Ringside Promotions and Golden Boy Promotions promoted the event.

In the co-feature, Vic Darchinyan retained his International Boxing Federation (IBF) flyweight title for the sixth time with a 12th-round technical knockout over former world champion Victor Burgos. Immediately after the fight, Burgos was taken away in an ambulance.

“Burgos wasn’t completely unconscious, but he was going in and out of consciousness,” said ringside physician Dr. Paul Wallace. “He took a lot of heavy punches, so we sent him to Harbor UCLA Hospital.”

Marquez (37-3, 33 KOs), has won 16 straight bouts, including 13 by knockout. The tough, dangerous counter-puncher and brother of Juan Manuel Marquez has successfully defended his IBF 118-pound crown seven times. Marquez, who scored scintillating TKOs over top contender Silence Mabuza on SHOWTIME in his last two fights, stopped long-time titleholder Tim Austin to capture the IBF belt on Feb. 15, 2003, in Las Vegas.

“I proved I am the best champion,” Marquez said. “Vazquez hit me so hard. He is a great champion. He deserves a rematch.”

Vazquez (41-4, 31 KOs) floored Marquez in the third round with a punishing left uppercut, but saw his nine-bout winning streak come to an end when the challenger rallied. A two-time world champion at 122 pounds, Vazquez captured the WBC super bantamweight title by scoring a third-round TKO over Oscar Larios on Dec. 3, 2005, in Las Vegas.

"I stopped the fight,” Roach said. “Vazquez told me after the first round that he broke his nose. He wanted me to stop it a couple of rounds earlier, but I asked him to try and suck it up because I thought that Marquez was getting tired.

“Vazquez gave it everything he had, but then came back and said he could not do it anymore. That is when I stopped the fight. His nose was more important than the fight.”

In one of 2006’s greatest fights, Vazquez overcame two knockdowns to retain the title in his last start with a devastating 10th-round TKO over Jhonny Gonzalez on Sept. 16 in Las Vegas.

Darchinyan (28-0, 22 KOs), of Sydney, Australia, retained both his IBF and International Boxing Organization (IBO) titles when referee Jon Schorle stopped the bout at 1:27 of the final round with Burgos up against the ropes. Since the 12th round was scored, Darchinyan led 110-98 twice and 109-99 on the scorecards.

Burgos (39-15-3, 23 KOs), of Puebla, Mexico, rallied from a second-round knockdown to stagger the champion against the ropes in the seventh round. Burgos captured the IBF junior flyweight crown with a 12-round unanimous decision over Alex Sanchez on Feb. 15, 2003, in Las Vegas. In a 108-pound unification match the following Dec. 13, the always willing and hard-trying Burgos boxed a draw with rugged WBC champion Rosendo Alvarez in Atlantic City.

“Mexico should be proud of Victor Burgos,” Darchinyan said. “I think he is a hero. He was very tough. His movements gave me difficulty. He is a good, tough fighter.”

 


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