By Jake Donovan

For as long as he continues to fight and probably for as long as he lives, Israel Vazquez will be forever associated with his incredible trilogy with Rafael Marquez.

The question that will be asked for as long as he continues to fight will now be, can he keep winning long enough to keep alive interest in a possible fourth fight with his old rival?

It was the Israel Vazquez of old by fight’s end, rallying back to score a ninth round knockout of Colombian journeyman Angel Priolo in the main event Saturday evening at Club Nokia in Los Angeles, California.

However, the ending preceded eight rounds of what appeared to be a very old Israel Vazquez, who struggled mightily with a career flyweight/junior bantamweight who didn’t have much business going rounds, never mind winning any.

That was precisely the scenario we saw Vazquez in, forced to shake off 19 months worth of ring rust as he took several rounds to get going. Priolo took advantage of his opponent’s alarmingly sluggish approach, offering a high volume of punches in the early rounds, with little fear of what would potentially return.

Vazquez appeared to find his range towards the end of the third round, throwing and landing in combination for the first time in the fight. The momentum carried over in the fourth, but not for very long as Priolo showed an exceptional knack for effectively fighting backwards, something to which Vazquez never fully adjusted.

Priolo’s persistence and high punch output is perhaps the one thing that worked to Vazquez’ advantage. The former super bantamweight king didn’t have very far to go to find him, with most of the bout fought at a phone booth’s distance.

Getting to the finish line was another matter for Vazquez, who found himself even on two of the three scorecards heading into the ninth.

That’s when old Israel Vazquez left and the Vazquez of old stepped in.

The ninth round came with the ex-champ bouncing on his toes, while Priolo was only able to offer arm punches. It wasn’t enough to avoid the pending incoming, which began with several right hands to floor the Colombian early in the ninth.

Priolo beat the count, but never recovered. Vazquez was relentless in the follow up, attacking like a buzzsaw, scoring two more knockdowns. Referee Pat Russell deemed Priolo unfit to continue just three seconds into the count during the third and final knockdown, immediately waving off the fight.

The official time was 2:10 of round nine.

Vazquez advanced to 44-4 (33KO) with the win in his first fight back since his unforgettable third fight with Marquez more than 19 months ago.

Priolo falls to 30-8 (20KO), suffering his seventh straight loss in the process.

It can be argued that 19 months of ring rust had a lot to do with Vazquez’ performance and that a few more comeback fights will help right the ship.

What serves as cause for concern is the fact that his face looked nearly as grotesque at the end of this fight as had been the case for many of his past several fights – his left eye cut and swollen, redness around the right eye.

Comeback fight or not, it was never supposed to be this difficult. Priolo had never fought beyond the bantamweight limit, with most of his career spent at flyweight, and was brought in to help Vazquez reacquaint himself with the ring before moving on to bigger and better things.

Credit to Priolo for refusing to roll over and play dead, but it’s clear that it will be a while before we begin discussing Vazquez-Marquez IV, or any other major fight involving Vazquez in what is threatening to become a revived featherweight division.

Wherever this comeback takes him, boxing fans are thrilled to have back one of its favorite action heroes in Israel Vazquez.

For however long it lasts, remains to be seen.

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.