By Jake Donovan (photo by Tom Casino/Showtime)

The determination behind the best member of a sibling rivalry always seems to come down to the “what have you done for me” argument.

It’s been well over a decade, and boxing fans still debate without a definitive answer as to who is the better of the Klitschko brothers, which the final choice changing after nearly every fight.

The Marquez brothers are hardly immune to such discussion. Public opinion has swayed back and forth over who is the better of the two, though the choice has been a little easier to make in recent years.  

This weekend could go a long way towards reviving that argument – or it could settle it once and for all.

How the discussion plays out depends entirely on Rafael Marquez, who for the fourth time in just over three years will face archrival Israel Vazquez. The two collide this weekend at the Staples Center in Los Angles, Calif. (Saturday, Showtime 9PM ET/PT).

What is universally agreed upon is the belief that the Marquez-Vazquez series is high among the greatest in boxing history. Their second and third battles garnered Fight of the Year honors in back-to-back years, with their first bout also scoring high honorable mention honors.

Their first bout was also the only one in which Marquez’ hand was raised, picking up the lineal super bantamweight crown after successfully moving up from bantamweight and also setting the table for what would be a banner month for his family.

Two weeks later, older brother Juan Manuel Marquez scored a mild upset win over Marco Antonio Barrera to claim a portion of the super featherweight crown, a verdict that for the first time in years helped renew chatter over which of the two siblings was the better fighter.

Juan Manuel’s decision win helped close the gap on what was otherwise a considerable lead for baby brother Rafael, whose name was whispered long before he was showcased on any major network.

The first mention of his potential came around the time of Juan Manuel’s debut on HBO, a lackluster decision loss against Freddie Norwood in an unwatchable fight more than a decade ago. It was no small coincidence that with the loss came the suggestion that he wasn’t even the best fighter in his own family; that something better was waiting in the wings.

It would take a while for Rafael to convince the masses, including righting a wrong that came with a controversial decision win over former two-division titlist Mark “Too Sharp” Johnson that was originally announced as a loss. Regardless of how you scored it, Marquez made it a moot point four months later, stopping the faded veteran in eight rounds.

One year later came what at the time served as the defining moment of his career. Marquez stopped former Olympic medalist and then-bantamweight titlist Tim Austin in eight rounds of a back-and-forth battle that saw him hurt in the very round in which he violently ended matters.

The belief that soon followed was that the bantamweight division would get some long needed identity. Instead, his career was limited to showcase appearances on pay-per-view undercards, facing modest opposition while his handlers opted to have him tread water.

A change in promoters helped shake up his competition and transform into the boxing star he deserved to be known as all along. Hooking up with Gary Shaw in 2006, Marquez landed five consecutive tough fights on paper, all of which aired on Showtime.

The first three all ended in stoppage, twice halting Silence Mabuza before moving up in 2007 to face and beat Vazquez in their first battle.

By then, the younger Marquez had built up a sizeable lead in the family rivalry, even if the prior four or so years were spent moving sideways. The important thing was that he was winning and adding to his resume, while Juan Manuel was slowly fading into obscurity.

A 2004 points draw with Manny Pacquiao in their thrilling first fight left fans craving more. Boxing would eventually get its rematch, but not for another four years. Marquez wound up pricing himself out of the fight, the first of a string of moves that would eventually have him fall out of favor with then-promoter Top Rank, who also handled Rafael’s career at the time.

The bottom threatened to fall out of Juan Manuel’s career in 2006, after being stripped of his alphabet title and having to accept a $32,000 payday for a trip to Indonesia against Chris John. It was a bad day at the office all around, getting screwed in the pocket as well as the cards as he left Indonesia with a controversial decision loss and very little to show for it.

By the time Juan Manuel was once again ready to make it a race, Rafael had already racked up nine consecutive title fight wins, all but two coming inside the distance.

As time would indicate, it would become a case of the tortoise versus the hair. Juan Manuel’s steady-but-effective resulted in title wins at super featherweight and the lineal championship at lightweight.

Rafael, believed by many to be among the best boxer-punchers in the sport, saw his flame distinguish in the rematch with Vazquez, conceding the super bantamweight crown just five months after climbing off the canvas to claim it.

It’s been a struggle to regain his stance as one of the best in the sport, dropping a heartbreaker to Vazquez in their March 2008 rubber match before taking more than a year off to decide how much he had left to offer the game.

Meanwhile, his older brother scored knockout wins over Joel Casamayor and Juan Diaz to establish himself as the best lightweight – and some would argue, the best fighter, period – in the sport.

Suddenly, that once wide gap swung all the way in the other direction. The momentum shift couldn’t have come at a worse time for Rafael, whom many believed had left the rest of his career in the ring following his three-fight series with Vazquez.

A comeback win exactly 52 weeks ago come fight night revealed very little, other than ring rust.

That’s the bad news, but perhaps not as damaging as the good news could potentially serve as far more rewarding.

Not that he was rooting for his older brother to fail, but in terms of keeping score within the family, Juan Manuel looked like anything other than one of the best fighters in the world when he fattened up for a payday and a one-sided points loss to Floyd Mayweather last September.

Nor did old nemesis Vazquez show even a hint of the same fighter that went to war with the younger Marquez, all but confirming the belief that both fighters truly left it all in the ring in their third bout in March 2008.

There’s a chance that Juan Manuel is now on the final lap of his legendary career that will no doubt one day earn enshrinement in the International Boxing Hall of Fame. It can be argued that the same can be said of the younger Marquez. Depending on where he is at in his career, this weekend could serve as the proverbial nail in the coffin, or put his name back in the mix in a featherweight division that is suddenly bursting with talent.

With Juan Manuel looking at a rematch with Juan Diaz – suddenly on the downside of his career himself - later this summer and then very few guaranteed notable wins beyond that, Saturday night provides the perfect opportunity for Rafael Marquez to reshuffle the deck and revive the long-argued point that he is the best fighting Marquez in the world.

Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of Boxingscene.com and an award-winning member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Contact Jake at JakeNDaBox@gmail.com