Israel Vazquez Vs Rafael Marquez III: Celebrating the 10 Year Anniversary of a Classic Battle

By Rich “Lite It Up” Lopez

This week we look back and celebrate the 10 year anniversary of one of the greatest fights of all time. It is one for the ages and will be remembered throughout boxing history. It was the third fight between Israel “Magnifico” Vazquez Vs Rafael Marquez. This was a classic battle between the aggressive fighter (Vazquez) vs the counter puncher (Marquez). Before we get into the third fight between these two Mexican greats, the first 2 encounters need to be acknowledged.

The 1st fight took place on March 3rd, 2007 at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California. Rafael Marquez of Mexico City, Mexico had a record of 36-3, with 32 knockouts coming into the fight. He is also the younger brother of Mexican legend Juan Manuel Marquez. Marquez was the ruler of the Bantamweight division and held the IBF title. At Bantamweight, he had notable wins over Mark “Too Sharp” Johnson and Tim Austin.

After seven successful title defenses, he decided to challenge himself and move up to Junior Featherweight and challenge the top fighter there. Israel Vazquez also from Mexico City, Mexico had a record of 41-3, with 30 knockouts and was the WBC Junior Featherweight Champion. His most notable wins were against Jhonny Gonzalez and Oscar Larios (twice). In the 1st fight, Marquez won by a 7th round TKO. Vazquez quit after the round due to a broken nose and could not continue. There was one knockdown in round 3 where Vazquez dropped Marquez with a left hook but Marquez got up.

Based on the excitement of this fight and how it ended, there had to be a rematch. Usually the rematches don’t live up to the 1st fight but the rematch was actually better.

The rematch took place on August 4th, 2007 at the Dodge Arena, in Hidalgo, Texas. This was only 5 months after their brutal first encounter. This was a quick turnaround time for a rematch considering Vazquez had surgery on his nose from the 1st fight. Vazquez probably needed more time to recover but he wanted to prove he was the better of the two fighters. Also, he wanted to erase doubt from the fans that he was not a quitter from that 1st fight.

Once the bell rang the fighters picked up where they had left off. The 3rd round was one for the history books as it won Round of the Year honors by Ring Magazine. It was another action packed fight with furious exchanges. In the 6th round, Marquez was dropped by a left hook and got up. Marquez was in bad shape and Vazquez seized the moment.

Vazquez threw everything he had and Marquez was hurt on the ropes which prompted the referee to stop the fight. Everybody remembers the moment when Vazquez was celebrating with both eyes cut and blood pouring down his face. Vazquez had even the score and tied the series 1-1. This was Ring’s Magazine 2007 Fight of the Year.

Obviously the rubber match needed to happen to see who the best fighter was. The next question was, can the third bout actually be better or equal to the 1st two fights? The answer was yes.

The third fight took place on March 1st, 2008 back at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California. Since the 1st two fights were great and built a fan following, there was a bigger audience for this fight. Rounds 1-3: Marquez had a great start in this fight. He used his jab effectively and was landing the straight right hand at will. He was also landing his left hook too, but Vazquez was taking the punches and always coming forward. Round 4: Marquez dropped Vazquez with a right hand. Vazquez got up and Marquez went for the attack. Vazquez was angry and stunned Marquez with a right hand then came back with a left hook. Both men ended the round with good exchanges. Then there was a shift in the fight. Rounds 5-9: Sensing the urgency to come back in the fight, Vazquez stepped up the pressure. It also seemed that Marquez was slowing down during these rounds.

Vazquez was closing the distance and doing good body work in the inside. Towards the end of each round Marquez would always come back with good combinations. Round 10: This would be the most pivotal round of the fight. Marquez got a second wind and battled back. He had a great round but then he landed a low punch. Referee Pat Russell called it a low blow and deducted a point off Marquez. After review, it was more of a body shot and you can say it was borderline.

Throughout the fight, the referee had warned Marquez for repeated low blows. You can make a case that the low blows were all borderline shots. Round 11: Both men went toe to toe and it was a close round. Round 12: At this point, the fight was up for grabs. It really came down to the final round and you knew something dramatic was going to happen. Who was going to take it? It turns out Vazquez had more gas in the tank than Marquez.

Vazquez went for the kill and tried to knockout Marquez. Marquez was hurt and shaky, but he was doing his best just to survive throwing punches back. If things couldn’t get more dramatic, in the closing seconds of the fight, Vazquez landed a right hand that made Marquez fall back towards the ropes. Marquez received a standing eight count at the final seconds as the ropes prevented him from being knocked down.

As the fighters were awaiting the decision, nobody knew who was going to win. It was that close. In the scorecards, Judge Max DeLuca scored 114-111 for Vazquez, Judge Tom Kaczmarek scored it 114-111 for Marquez, and Judge James Jen Kin scored it 113-112 for Vazquez. Vazquez had won by split decision. Going back to round 10, the point deduction was a big factor in the fight. If the point was not taken away the fight would have been a draw. I scored for Vazquez 113-112. The 3rd fight between Vazquez and Marquez also won the Ring Magazine’s 2008 Fight of the Year.

Both boxers took a long rest and it was well deserved. They both came back after a year and a half in tune up bouts which they both won. This would set up a fourth fight between them which was not necessary but for financial reasons made sense. The fight took place on May 22nd, 2010 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. It was little over 2 years after their third bout. Marquez would win the fourth bout in a 3rd round stoppage.

Vazquez’s face could not hold up anymore. It was cut easily in the fight that impaired his vision. This would be Vazquez’s final fight in a great career. As for Marquez, he would continue to fight for 3 more years. He would challenge for the title at Super Bantamweight twice, but fell short. Marquez was never the same fighter anymore. His last fight was in 2013 and he had a great career as well. Both fighters left a piece of themselves in the ring in their four bouts. At the end, they were 2-2 in their 4 fights. I can say that Vazquez won this rivalry slightly. In going back to the fights, even though their styles were made for each other, Vazquez got the better of Marquez.

We saw this before when Salvador Sanchez defeated Wilfredo Gomez or when Aaron Pryor defeated Alexis Arguello. This simply was a case of the good smaller guy (Marquez) vs the good bigger guy (Vazquez).

It was great to watch the 3rd fight again between Israel Vazquez vs Rafael Marquez. I felt once again these great Mexican fighters deserve their recognition for putting it on the line for the fans. This is what boxing is all about. Finally, I would like to say thank you for the memories!

[si-contact-form form=’2′]