By Cliff Rold
Photo (c) Tom Casino/Showtime
World Jr. Featherweight champion Israel Vazquez (42-4, 31 KO) vs. former champion Rafael Marquez (37-4, 33 KO), Saturday, Showtime, 9:30 PM EST/PST. Their last two fights were leading candidates for Fight of the Year in 2007. Their second was selected by Ring Magazine for that very prize. These two Mexican bad asses seek to decide ultimate superiority.
That’s it. That’s all you need to know. If you need more, go watch men’s figure skating.
Let’s go to the report card.
Speed: Neither of these men is a fleet-footed, counter-punching fancy Dan. If they were, then the anticipation for this bout wouldn’t be what it is amongst the blood-lusting mob. A plus for those who like their fights with fighting, both Vazquez and Marquez are a bit past their physical peaks, having shown a loss in speed even prior to the start of their rivalry. That said, both use the speed that remains effectively. Vazquez is particularly quick inside. He throws short, compact punches that snap and his left hook has caught many more than just Rafael Marquez blind. Marquez is able to rapidly turn his left jab into a left uppercut in one fluid motion. Ultimately the edge goes to Vazquez, which may be as attributable to his age advantage (30 vs. 32) as to any tool that God blessed him with. Pre-Fight Grades: Vazquez B+; Marquez B
Power: Each man has scored a stoppage in this rivalry, but the circumstances would lead one to believe that it Vazquez may have the edge here. In the first fight, a Marquez uppercut shattered Vazquez’s nose, leading to a seventh-round corner retirement. Marquez had a healthy lead in the fight through those rounds as well, having won potentially five of them. The third round was not one of them. An explosive inside hook in the third round planted Marquez on the seat of his trunks and on shaky legs when he rose from there. In the rematch, the left hook hurt Marquez again in an even wilder third round. This time he stayed on his feet, at least until the sixth when a left hook connected again. Vazquez followed that with a lethal fusillade of punches that eventually led the referee to intervene on behalf of a wobbling Marquez. So why do I still suspect that there really isn’t a difference in power between the two? Two reasons: 1) Vazquez has a bit better chin than Marquez. Always has. 2) Marquez really hasn’t landed his very best shot yet in this rivalry. Pre-Fight Grades: Vazquez A; Marquez A
Defense: No seriously, there’s at least some defense in these fights. Most of it is subtle and of the sort that still looks exciting, a bonus. Both men do a good job of using their gloves, forearms and shoulders to both block and create punching room. Vazquez keeps his gloves a little tighter to his chin and is more precise defensively. He also finds himself hanging in space on occasion, the price for overextending his straight right. So far he hasn’t been caught with a “what was that” power shot. Marquez has, and more often than was safe. Watch the tapes again; Marquez never sees the hooks coming, suggesting that he over commits on offense to his own peril. Marquez’s best defense is in the creation of distance. When he is able to control the rushes of Vazquez with his jab, he gets hit less. Vazquez’s success in the rematch was largely a product of him outworking that jab with his own. In the first bout, he threw his jab less frequently and Marquez set the tone. In the rematch, Marquez got hit more because Vazquez doubled, tripled, even quadruple jabbed from the opening bell, leaving him in functional control for the bulk of those six classic rounds. Pre-Fight Grades: Marquez B-; Vazquez B
Intangibles: There’s no way to say anything bad about the insides of these men. Vazquez was supposed to have peaked in a brutal back-and-forth loss to Oscar Larios in 2002 and yet here he is. Against Jhonny Gonzalez in 2006, he got off the floor twice to punish and stop his man. He bounced back from a devastating loss to Marquez the first time around with a complete and defining reversal. The longtime former IBF bantamweight titlist Marquez has overcome similar adversities to become a truly outstanding professional. Three early career knockout losses, one in his first pro fight in 1995, left him languishing as the ‘other’ Marquez brother, ever in the shadow of Juan Manuel. Bouts in 2001 and 02 against Flyweight marvel Mark Johnson shot in career in a new trajectory and a 2003 win against former U.S. Olympian Tim Austin for his 118 lb. belt sealed his spot. The one constant has been his chin; it never got much better. He just made all his other tools around it better. Against Johnson and Austin, when he did get hurt, he had the guile and legs to survive. At 32, his legs looked to be leaving him in the Vazquez rematch. He’ll need them back this weekend. We can all rest assured that both will have their giant hearts on their sleeves. Pre-Fight Grades: Vazquez A; Marquez A
Overall Report Card: Vazquez B+; Marquez B+
So how will this one turn out? With the proverbial pistol to the temple, I’d favor Vazquez here based on his slightly fresher legs. However, Marquez is due to land the sort of flush bomb that has just missed so far. That could change everything. So my pick…is that everyone watching wins and so does the sport of boxing. No matter what happens Saturday, both Vazquez and Marquez will leave as they enter.
Champions.
I just expect Vazquez to leave with that intact as an official designation.
Cliff Rold is a member of the Ring Magazine Ratings Advisory Panel and the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com
