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by David P. Greisman - They come to ballrooms, filing in and taking their seats under expensive chandeliers, filling the air with cheap cigar smoke and roars of approval as the palookas and pugs pound away. They travel to casinos, ignoring the slot machines in favor of another form of armed combat, ******** that the money they’ve spent will pay off, that the fighters will entertain, will go all-in by going all out.
They journeyed, Saturday, to the Dodge Arena in Hidalgo, Texas, a small but wise crowd of approximately 3,500 people who chose to see world-class action firsthand on a night when, nearly 1,500 miles away, a beloved warrior in Erik Morales made one last stand after an action-filled career. They would not be disappointed.
Morales was a Mexican franchise, a titlist in three weight classes looking to join select company by capturing his fourth. He was a pay-per-view headliner, a respected veteran who had brought attention to the 122-pound division and beyond, one-half of memorable trilogies with Marco Antonio Barrera and Manny Pacquiao.
Rafael Marquez and Israel Vazquez, by comparison, had long labored in the shadows of their more famous countrymen. While Morales and Barrera built legends, Marquez and Vazquez compiled ledgers – Marquez punching his way to the bantamweight peak, Vazquez eventually working his way toward the top of the junior featherweights.
Their first collision produced fireworks while it lasted, seven delightful rounds in March that saw each man demonstrate the full extent of his offensive capabilities. [details]
They journeyed, Saturday, to the Dodge Arena in Hidalgo, Texas, a small but wise crowd of approximately 3,500 people who chose to see world-class action firsthand on a night when, nearly 1,500 miles away, a beloved warrior in Erik Morales made one last stand after an action-filled career. They would not be disappointed.
Morales was a Mexican franchise, a titlist in three weight classes looking to join select company by capturing his fourth. He was a pay-per-view headliner, a respected veteran who had brought attention to the 122-pound division and beyond, one-half of memorable trilogies with Marco Antonio Barrera and Manny Pacquiao.
Rafael Marquez and Israel Vazquez, by comparison, had long labored in the shadows of their more famous countrymen. While Morales and Barrera built legends, Marquez and Vazquez compiled ledgers – Marquez punching his way to the bantamweight peak, Vazquez eventually working his way toward the top of the junior featherweights.
Their first collision produced fireworks while it lasted, seven delightful rounds in March that saw each man demonstrate the full extent of his offensive capabilities. [details]