VAZQUEZ RALLIES TO REIGN SUPREME IN RUBBERMATCH WITH MARQUEZ
Thanks to an incredible closing round and the slimmest of scoring margins, WBC Super Bantamweight Champion Israel Vazquez pounded out a historic and hard earned split decision victory over Rafael Marquez Saturday night, completing the greatest boxing trilogy since Marco Antonio Barrera and Erik Morales threw down for the third and final time in 2004. Similar to the battles between Morales and Barrera, the rubbermatch between Vazquez and Marquez had its share of controversy, but even Marquez’ rather empty complaints following the decision could not taint what was surely one of the all time great series of battles in boxing and an early candidate for Fight of the Year for 2008.
Just as Marquez’ red gloves seemed better suited for the red trunks of Vazquez while Vazquez’ black gloves appeared to match Marquez’ solid black trunks, these Mexican warriors were made for each other from their first meeting in March of 2007 until their amazing finish almost a year to the day later.
Each fight proved better than the previous one all the way up until the grand finale. After three bouts, both men had tasted the canvas and had ended up on the receiving end of a stoppage loss. The trilogy concluded, quite fittingly, in a twelve round war won by Vazquez by a single point.
The rubbermatch dubbed “The Tiebreaker” picked up where the rematch in August left off, both fighters slinging aggressive but controlled shots at the other. There was no feeling out round between the now familiar foes as they punched with a purpose from the opening bell. Marquez quickly established himself as the more complete fighter, a point proven through the first two meetings, but Vazquez reminded viewers, and Marquez, that he was the bigger puncher when he stunned the challenger with a hard left hook after losing the opening two minutes. Marquez responded with enough shots to force the champion into covering up momentarily before coming out and sticking his jab into Vazquez’ face throughout the second round. Refusing to let the challenger box him, Israel landed another left hook in the waning moments to stun Marquez once more. Though he lost the first two rounds, Vazquez was unquestionably doing more damage.
Vazquez fought more consistently in the third round, but he remained a step behind the disciplined Marquez, who reacted to Israel’s increased aggression with a little too much of his own and landed a low blow that earned a warning. Several exchanges punctuated round four in which even the jabs were thrown with intent to harm. After bumping heads with the challenger, Vazquez stepped into a hard right hand that backed him up. Marquez immediately went on the attack, catching Vazquez with a straight right that sent the champion onto the seat of his pants for the first time in the trilogy. Thinking his man was hurt, Rafael made the mistake of going on the attack and walked into a blistering right from Vazquez that snapped his head aside, and suddenly Marquez was the one in trouble. Israel followed up with a hard right-left that knocked Marquez’ head about. Inside fighting ensued in which Vazquez got the better of the action until Rafael answered with a hard left hook. Just as fast, Israel fired back with a hard right as the ebb and flow continued and an unforgettable round concluded.
Badly needing to catch up on lost ground, Vazquez pulled Marquez into a phone booth type of fight for most of round five, hammering home his best hooks to the challenger’s cranium, but Rafael appeared to willingly engage rather than use the twenty foot ring to his advantage. A solid one-two punch knocked Marquez to the ropes and highlighted a round fought at a blistering pace, a pace that favored the champion as he chased Rafael around the ring for much of round six. Vazquez caught Marquez backing up with a big right hand, followed by a sweeping left. Two more rights drilled Marquez flush as he retreated towards the ropes, fighting all the way while letting his game plan fall apart. Rafael went to the body to try slowing Israel down but strayed too far south of the beltline and received his final warning for low blows from Referee Pat Russell. The fighters traded hooks just before the bell, and Vazquez returned to his corner, bleeding from a cut over his right eye yet starting to turn the tide in his favor.
Vazquez used his momentum to go punch for punch with Marquez in round seven, landing hard overhand shots on the challenger against the ropes. His left eye starting to swell shut, Rafael worked hard to earn a round he was clearly losing with a fantastic rally in the final thirty seconds, pasting Vazquez with a hard right-left through the guard, followed by an equally devastating left-right moments later that knocked Israel back. A popping uppercut from the challenger only convinced Vazquez to fight back, but Marquez was in full stride and out punched his rival until the bell. Israel attempted to drag Marquez back into slugging in round eight, but Rafael proved too slippery and stuck with the jab. The champion’s response was to jab with Marquez and used his own version to set up stinging straight rights. Marquez fought back admirably, stuffing in left hooks to ward Vazquez off. Vazquez countered a jab with a hard right-left that doubled Marquez over. Two uppercuts followed and drove Rafael to the ropes where he caught Vazquez’ looping shots over the top of the head. Israel ended the round with as many as four jarring one-two’s to the face of Marquez in the center of the ring.
The fighters dug into one other with vicious hooks to open the ninth round, but Vazquez’ money punch had become his straight right, and he returned to that weapon. Even while being punched into the ropes, however, Marquez managed to rip Vazquez with a left hook. Back in the enter of the ring, it was Marquez’ turn to slam Israel with his right hand, but that allowed Vazquez a window to drive home his notably absent left hook. Rafael began fighting out of a defensive stance more and more often, and rightfully so, because Vazquez was pushing the fight on him more with each passing round. After losing most of the ninth, Marquez unleashed his best series of punches of the entire fight, an uppercut and straight right, followed by a jab and another straight right that slammed Vazquez’ head aside and caused him to stutter step momentarily. Still, the rally more than likely failed to win Rafael the round and definitely failed to turn back the raging Vazquez.
Vazquez remained on the prowl into round ten despite the brief setback at the end of the previous stanza and eventually forced Marquez to initiate two of the only clinches of the fight up to that point. The Mexican foes proceeded to blast each other with their best straight rights until Rafael, even with Russell’s warnings resonating in his ears during the round, landed a shot too close to call around the champion’s beltline and was promptly docked a costly point. After arguing, Marquez fought back to avoid losing a two point round when he bombed Vazquez with a straight right, followed by a hard uppercut. Israel landed a straight right of his own immediately into round eleven, and the tiring Marquez again held on. Four more straight rights later had Rafael holding regularly. Vazquez next focused on burying hooks into the increasingly defensive Marquez, fighting like a champion who he knew he needed every round and maybe more. He out fought Marquez for the remainder of the round in dominating fashion, relegating Rafael to clinching and fighting in spurts.
With the fight virtually a dead heat, the twelfth round was left to decide the winner. After rocking Marquez with a thudding right seconds in, Vazquez was in control for the entire final three minutes, pounding the challenger with everything he had while Rafael hardly landed a punch. In fact, Marquez spent almost the entire round holding and was heavily booed by the Mexican crowd each time he committed the act of desperation. But Marquez had nothing left and ate an unhealthy diet of punches from the center of the ring to the ropes and back to the center where he could barely hold his gloves up to defend himself as his mouth hung open. Finally, with less than ten seconds remaining in the fight, Vazquez connected on a pair of right hands and a left hook that sent Marquez stumbling into the corner, reaching out and grabbing the ropes with his glove to keep himself from hitting the canvas. However, with only the ropes holding him up, Russell correctly ruled a knockdown, giving the champion a badly needed point. At the bell, both fighters raised their gloves, but if the twelfth round was any indication of the winner, Vazquez had done enough to keep his title.
A case could be made for either man winning, Marquez combination punching to an early lead and Vazquez coming on late to rain punches on the tiring challenger. The first two judges were completely at odds, each seeing the bout 114-111 but disagreeing on the winner. The third and deciding card of 113-112 saw Vazquez retain his championship by a single point.
Of course, in any fight that is ultimately decided by one point, every decision the referee makes must be analyzed, but Referee Pat Russell was well within reason on every call, no matter how controversial Marquez claims they were. Rafael was warned twice about low blows before losing a point for a shot close to the border. In the final round when Marquez hit the ropes on his way to surely going down after being beat from pillar to post for 2 minutes and 45 seconds, Russell again made the right decision. Marquez can debate the call, but the fact of the matter is he would have been knocked out, not just down, had Russell not stepped in to halt the action. Vazquez earned the victory with a twelfth round rally that will go down in boxing history and deserves to have his trilogy winning rubbermatch untarnished by petty complaints.
The trilogy between Marquez and Vazquez embodied everything boxing aspires to be. Not only were these three great, action-packed fights, but they were fought on an extremely high level of skill and commitment to trade, comparable to the efforts turned in by pound for pound super middleweights/middleweights Jermain Taylor and Kelly Pavlik a few weeks ago. The Mexican rivals that traded blows for twenty five solid rounds are among the best fighters not only in their weight range but in the entire world. Neither was able to completely dominate the other and was therefore forced to come up with new tactics almost every round of every fight.
This trilogy is what Diego Corrales and Jose Luis Castillo should have been from 2005 to 2006 until Castillo irresponsibly failed to make weight on two occasions and Corrales suffered his untimely death just last year. It is not too early to suggest that Marquez and Vazquez, with the third installment of their rivalry, have staged the best fight since the first epic clash between Corrales and Castillo four years ago. Even though Marquez is upset with the way things turned out now just as Castillo was in May of 2005, Rafael will, like Castillo, eventually realize the greater significance of the bout and the favor he has done boxing by competing in such a trilogy. He may have seen a robbery in his eyes, but repeatedly claiming thus will only make him the loser of a trilogy in which there should be none. Both Marquez and Vazquez have stamped their place in boxing history over the past year, and the winner may end up taking a backseat to the fights themselves as is the case in all great fights.
