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By TK Stewart - When he had to give up the fight against Rafael Marquez while sitting on his stool at the end of the seventh round, Israel “Izzy” Vazquez was a beaten fighter. He had just engaged in twenty-one minutes of fury against one of the top pound-for-pound boxers on the planet and he gave as good as he got.
But in the end it was his nose that stunk up his night.
It was a battle that Rafael Marquez ended up winning, well, by a nose. And just when the plug was pulled on a rose of a fight that was really beginning to smell like a winner, poor Izzy Vazquez’ nose looked like it had been taken off in some sort of plastic surgery gone wrong and then re-attached upside down.
The damage obviously came from an accumulation of shots, but in the fifth round Izzy Vazquez took two jabs to the nose and then he turned away in pain. Despite the obvious problems that were as plain to see, as well, the nose on your face, he bravely fought on for another two and a half rounds.
Showtime blow-by-blow man, and recent Boxing Writers Association of America Sam Taub Brodcaster of the Year award winner, Steve Albert, called the first fight and he’ll be calling the rematch. Albert says he saw no problem with the way the fight ended and he backs up the notion that obviously Vazquez was in tremendous pain.
“Given the kind of warrior that Israel Vazquez is, you can’t get on him,” said Albert. “You gotta’ believe him, he just could not continue. He couldn’t breathe through the nose.” [details]
But in the end it was his nose that stunk up his night.
It was a battle that Rafael Marquez ended up winning, well, by a nose. And just when the plug was pulled on a rose of a fight that was really beginning to smell like a winner, poor Izzy Vazquez’ nose looked like it had been taken off in some sort of plastic surgery gone wrong and then re-attached upside down.
The damage obviously came from an accumulation of shots, but in the fifth round Izzy Vazquez took two jabs to the nose and then he turned away in pain. Despite the obvious problems that were as plain to see, as well, the nose on your face, he bravely fought on for another two and a half rounds.
Showtime blow-by-blow man, and recent Boxing Writers Association of America Sam Taub Brodcaster of the Year award winner, Steve Albert, called the first fight and he’ll be calling the rematch. Albert says he saw no problem with the way the fight ended and he backs up the notion that obviously Vazquez was in tremendous pain.
“Given the kind of warrior that Israel Vazquez is, you can’t get on him,” said Albert. “You gotta’ believe him, he just could not continue. He couldn’t breathe through the nose.” [details]