Vazquez-Marquez 3 Wins Fight of the Year by Yahoo

1. Israel Vazquez vs. Rafael Marquez III Date: March 1 Site: Home Depot Center, Carson, Calif. Significance: The bout was the third in a series, with the 2007 bout earning the nod as the Yahoo! Sports Fight of the Year. They were competing for Marquez’s WBC super bantamweight title and the Ring Magazine championship. Outcome: Vazquez won by split decision. Judges had it 114-111 and 113-112 for Vazquez and 114-111 for Marquez. The fight: The pace was fast and the blows were hard and accurate. Vazquez was decked in the fourth and Marquez went down in the final seconds of the 12th. Vazquez seemed to be the stronger man and appeared to hurt Marquez more than Marquez hurt him. The crowd was heavily into it and roared at deafening levels throughout. Why it’s the 2008 Yahoo! Sports Fight of the Year: Any one of the eight bouts could have won. But these are two of the top 10 pound-for-pound fighters in the world who went at each other with a ferocity rarely seen. There were many ebbs and flows in the fight and when it was over, no one was certain who’d won. The only thing certain was that everyone wanted to see a fourth fight between the two. http://sports.yahoo.com/box/news;_ylt=As0gb5VVuA5LWr2aa6bR0y2UxLYF?slug=ki-topfights122208&prov=yhoo&type=lgns