Rafael Marquez vs Israel Vazquez 2

Israel Vazquez regained the World Boxing Council super-bantamweight championship from Rafael Marquez with a sixth-round stoppage at the Dodge Arena in Hidalgo, Texas, on 4 August 2007. The two Mexican fighters had produced a punishing contest five months earlier, when Marquez recovered from a third-round knockdown and forced Vazquez to retire after seven rounds with a broken nose and severe difficulty breathing. The rematch followed without delay. Both men weighed 121 pounds, and Marquez entered with 37 victories and three defeats, while Vazquez brought a record of 41 wins and four losses. Jose Guadalupe Garcia was the referee.

Marquez had moved up from bantamweight for the first meeting after a distinguished reign as IBF champion. His straight punching, accuracy and compact combinations had enabled him to take Vazquez’s title, but the earlier contest had also shown the danger presented by the former champion’s left hook and physical pressure. Vazquez approached the return with the intention of keeping Marquez under strain and preventing him from establishing the measured, technical rhythm preferred by trainer Ignacio Beristain. The challenger began by advancing behind a high guard, while Marquez attempted to control him with the jab and sharp right hands.

Marquez appeared the more settled boxer during the opening stages. He met Vazquez’s advances with straight punches, moved sufficiently to avoid being caught squarely and placed combinations through the centre. Vazquez accepted the cleaner blows and continued forward, looking for opportunities to bring his left hook against the body and head. The action was already forceful, although neither man obtained a lasting advantage. Marquez’s precision was balanced by Vazquez’s greater pressure and willingness to remain close after being hit.

The second round followed a similar course, with Marquez producing the tidier work and Vazquez refusing to concede ground. The challenger’s face began to show damage, but he continued to shorten the distance and force exchanges. Marquez was most effective when he had room to extend the jab and right hand. When Vazquez reached his chest, the champion was required to trade with hooks and uppercuts rather than box at his chosen range.

The third round developed into a sustained exchange which later received The Ring magazine’s Round of the Year award. Vazquez drove forward with left hooks to the body and head, while Marquez answered with rapid combinations and accurate uppercuts. Each appeared to hurt the other during a round in which defence became secondary to immediate retaliation. Marquez’s right eye was swollen and cut, while Vazquez suffered cuts around both eyes. Blood was visible across their faces, but neither reduced his pace. Vazquez absorbed Marquez’s sharpest punches and repeatedly answered with the left hook, forcing the champion backwards during the strongest passages of the round.

The fourth and fifth remained closely fought. Marquez continued to land the straighter punches and appeared the stronger man during parts of the exchanges, but Vazquez maintained the pressure and increasingly made the contest a short-range affair. The challenger’s cuts were serious enough to be conspicuous, although they did not prevent him from seeing the punches or defending himself. Marquez’s right eye was also deteriorating, and the swelling made the champion less comfortable when Vazquez attacked from his left side. After five rounds, all three judges had Vazquez ahead by the narrow margin of 48–47.

Vazquez took command early in the sixth. Approximately 20 seconds into the round, a left hand to the body caused Marquez to hesitate. Vazquez stepped closer and drove a right uppercut through the guard, followed immediately by a left hook which sent the champion to the canvas. Marquez rose, but his legs were uncertain, and he had not recovered his defensive balance. Vazquez attacked at once, landing to the body and head as Marquez moved towards the ropes.

Marquez attempted to cover and answer, but Vazquez continued punching with both hands. The champion remained upright, although he was no longer defending himself effectively and several clean blows landed without reply. Garcia moved between the fighters and stopped the contest at one minute and 16 seconds of the sixth round. Marquez protested briefly, but he had been badly hurt, dropped and left exposed under a sustained attack. The intervention was justified.

Vazquez regained both the WBC and recognised Ring super-bantamweight championships. His victory rested upon more than endurance. He had accepted Marquez’s accurate early punching, continued to close the range and made increasing use of the left hook, the punch Marquez had identified before the contest as the principal danger. Once the champion’s eye was damaged and his movement reduced, Vazquez was able to attack with greater freedom. Marquez had boxed well and remained competitive until the knockdown, but he could not recover once the uppercut and hook broke his resistance in the sixth.

The contest was named The Ring’s Fight of the Year for 2007 and left the two men level at one victory apiece. A third meeting followed in March 2008, when Vazquez retained the championship by split decision after 12 rounds. The second contest, however, provided the most decisive finish of their first three meetings. Vazquez had reversed the earlier result, regained his title and demonstrated that the broken nose which ended the first fight had not settled the question of superiority between them.

For me, this is one of the greatest all-Mexican trilogies.

Rafael Marquez had won the first fight after Israel Vazquez retired with a broken nose, but that result had not settled anything. Marquez was the cleaner technician, with the sharper jab, straighter right hand and better control at range. Vazquez was the stronger pressure fighter, carrying a vicious left hook and the temperament to keep coming through punishment. The rematch was always likely to favour whichever man could force his preferred distance.

Marquez boxed well early and landed the tidier punches, but Vazquez refused to let him settle. The third round was exceptional, with both men hurt and cut during sustained exchanges. Marquez’s right eye was damaged, while Vazquez bled from cuts around both eyes. That sort of fighting normally punishes the less disciplined man, yet Vazquez kept his shape better than people remember. He moved his head on the way in, worked the body and used the left hook to stop Marquez escaping cleanly. The judges had Vazquez ahead 48–47 on every card after five rounds.

The finish in the sixth was decisive. Vazquez hurt Marquez to the body, then dropped him with a right uppercut-left hook combination. Marquez rose, but his legs had gone, and he was taking clean punches without replying properly when the referee stopped it at 1:16. I thought the intervention was correct.

For me, Vazquez won because he made the better adjustment. Marquez still had the finer technique, but Vazquez took away his room, damaged him at close range and broke him once the exchanges became physical. It was not merely courage. It was intelligent pressure carried out by a fighter willing to pay the price.