Inexorable Israel Vazquez continues to win

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By Matt Wells: WBC super bantamweight champion Israel Vazquez has not always had an easy time of things in the fight game. In recent years, however, his career has gathered considerable momentum as he has stung together a series of impressive victories and collected plenty of valuable hardware along the way.

On September 16, Vazquez will look to add another big win to his resume as he takes on vaunted young challenger Jhonny Gonzalez. The fight will be featured on the "Too Close to Call" pay-per-view card, in which the main event will feature Marco Antonio Barrera and Rocky Juarez picking up where they left off after Barrera's razor-thin victory over Juarez last May. If Vazquez prevails, it would be his ninth win in a row since his epic clash with Oscar Larios in May of 2002. In the years that followed, Vazquez avenged that loss, picked up two world titles, a Ring magazine title, and is generally regarded as the class of the super bantamweight division.

To those not paying attention, Vazquez's rise to prominence may be seen as something as a surprise. He has been campaigning virtually his entire career at the super bantamweight level, which often gets lost in the shuffle behind other divisions in front and in back. But with a move up to featherweight on the cards, his stock just may rise even further in the coming months and years.

For now, though, the focus is on Gonzalez. Vazquez's manager, Frank Espinoza, is confident that his charge will be able to deliver come fight night. "Israel's feeling very good," he says. "He's very motivated and feeling very strong. We've got good sparring partners. We're looking forward to this fight. We know how important it is, and what doors can open for him. But certainly, we're just concentrating on Jhonny right now."

Gonzalez, the current WBO bantamweight champion, will be jumping up a notch to fight Vazquez for his title. The 24 year-old has made a lot of noise in recent months with victories over such notables as Fernando Montiel and Mark "Too Sharp" Johnson. Possessing good power in both hands, it stands to reason that he will pose a stiff challenge to Vazquez, even if he is naturally the lighter man.

"I think Jhonny's a good fighter," Espinoza says. "He wouldn't be a world champion if he wasn't. We know it will be a tough fight. We know he's going to be in the best condition of his life. To fight Israel, he's going to have to be. But I feel that Israel's just too strong for him. He'll be coming up in weight, and I certainly feel that Israel will stop him in the later rounds."

As the more experienced fighter and the bigger man, Vazquez will have a lot going for him. Having said that, Gonzalez is the younger fighter, and many fans and pundits feel that this fight is designed to give him the opportunity to deliver a signature performance and go on to greater heights. Encouraging this perception is the fact that the card is presented by Golden Boy Promotions, who promote Gonzalez. Presumably, they expect their own fighter to come away with the win.

Espinoza isn't worried about his fighter's chances, however. "I think his strength and his experience [will make the difference]," he says. "This is Israel's weight level, and Jhonny will have to be coming up to his weight. I've heard from the sparring partners, and they've told me that Israel feels really strong, and his punches are really solid."

Vazquez, it should be noted, is a former Golden Boy man himself. These days, however, he plies his trade for Sycuan Ringside Promotions. The San Diego area-based company has only been around since 2004, but seems to have a knack for latching onto talented and successful fighters. A partial list of the athletes under its umbrella includes Carlos Baldomir, Joan Guzman, Julio Diaz, Jorge Paez Jr., and, of course, Vazquez. Seeing as this had been a rather grim year for many other second-tier promoters (think Main Events and DiBella Entertainment), Sycuan has emerged with one of the most promising cadre of pugilists around.

The hard-hitting Vazquez has had nothing but success since he became a Sycuan fighter. It has been more than four years now since that fateful night when Larios filled in for Wille Jorin at the last minute and squared off against Vazquez for the second time. Their first encounter, all the way back in April of 1997, ended quickly, with Vazquez scoring a first-round KO win in Mexico City. This next time around, however, Larios would not bow out so easily.

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It should be noted that Vazquez had been chasing Jorrin for quite some time already, and the experience of trying to get the former WBC super bantamweight champion in the ring had proved to be incredibly frustrating. Jorin, never a highly-regarded champion, had already scratched several scheduled fights with Vazquez before this next encounter was set to go off. The cancellations cost him his belt, so that Vazquez and Larios fought for something called the WBC "interim title".

In theory, goings-on outside the ring shouldn't faze a fighter. In reality, however, the politics of boxing can be so trying as to wear down even the most unflappable individuals. In the case of Vazquez, he believes that Jorin's antics distracted him from the task at hand: winning a very important fight.

Of course, many fans look back on Larios-Vazquez II with fond memories. It was a back and forth brawl that ended in the most exciting way possible: a stoppage in the final round. Larios was the busier fighter for much of the night, but Vazquez had the edge in power. In the early going Larios used movement to good effect, but by the middle of the fight Vazquez's body shots were starting to take their toll. The last few rounds were full of toe-to-toe action, with both fighters making a solid case that they deserved the win. In the 12th and final stanza, however, Larios took control, dropping Vazquez twice before referee Pat Russell stopped the action.

Vazquez's dream of capturing a world title had been snuffed out. To add insult to injury, it was Larios who went on to land a fight with Jorin, which he won easily by TKO in the first round (Larios, incidentally, had lost to Jorin in an earlier fight in January, 2001.) For Vazquez, however, redemption would come soon enough.

While Larios went on a string of title defences, Vazquez started piecing together a winning streak of his own. In a 12-month span from September 2002 to September 2003, he rattled off three consecutive wins against lower-level fighters. This set him up for a shot at the IBF title, which had been vacated by Manny Pacquiao when he moved up to the featherweight class. On March 25th, 2004, Vazquez faced off against Jose Luis Valbuena for the vacant strap.

A confident Vazquez would not let this opportunity slip through his fingers. Using movement and his requisite power shots, he dominated right from the opening bell. In the fourth round he knocked Valbuena to the canvas for the first time in his professional career. Valbuena was so frustrated by how things were turning out that he hit Vazquez below the belt three times over the course of the fight. Vazquez shook off these cheap shots, and finished things up in the 12th with a second knockdown and a final assault that prompted referee James Jen-Kin to jump in and end the match.

Vazquez defended his new title two more times over the next 14 months, and then he was presented with the chance to make up for the most glaring blemish on his record, as a third fight with Larios was set up. The fight took place December 3, 2005, on the undercard of the rematch between Jermain Taylor and Bernard Hopkins. Since the first Taylor-Hopkins fight produced few fireworks and the rematch promised more of the same, perhaps Golden Boy, who put together the card, was likely hoping that Vazquez and Larios could regenerate the excitement they had produced in their second encounter. Barring that, they certainly figured that Larios would prevail, seeing as he was their fighter (Vazquez seems to have a knack for getting into fights against Golden Boy opponents.) Despite Vazquez's recent accomplishments, Larios was tapped by most pundits and fans to come away with the win, and came in as the betting favourite.

Vazquez, however, would disappoint both Larios supporters and those that simply wanted to see another ruckus affair. Instead, he proved that he had grown significantly as a fighter in the years following that tough loss. After only about half a minute had gone by in the first round, Vazquez threw a combination that jarred Larios. Vazquez then pounced, throwing a series of uppercuts that sent his opponent down to the canvas. Larios beat the count and landed some good shots of his own before the round was up, but Vazquez was looking sharp and poised.

The second featured plenty of good exchanges, and the round was given to Larios by most observers. In the third stanza, though, Vazquez regained the advantage, and with about a minute to go he unloaded a two-punch combination that opened up a nasty gash over Larios' left eye. Seeing that it was a bad one, referee Tony Weeks stopped the action so that a ringside doctor could examine the wound. The doctor took a close look, and determined that the fight could not continue. Weeks officially ended the bout, and Vazquez came away with an early TKO victory.

Though Vazquez had done much to put the earlier loss to Larios behind him, getting his revenge undoubtedly rejuvenated his career to a considerable degree. "I've seen an increase in confidence since he won the third fight with Larios," Espniosa says. "I've seen a tremendous change in him overall as a fighter."

With the win, Vazquez earned himself the WBC super bantamweight crown and, perhaps more importantly, the Ring title as well. Since then he has abandoned his IBF strap and defended his other titles one time in a fight against Ivan Hernandez on June 10 Hernandez had jumped up two weight classes to take on Vazquez, and was subsequently ripped apart over four rounds.

The Gonzalez fight, therefore, will be the first true test Vazquez will face since the second win over Larios. "I think the plan of the fight is that Israel's going to have to stay inside, attack the body, and hopefully we can stop it in the later rounds," Espinoza says. "I think Jhonny's game plan will probably be to move and to box, and to stay away from Vazquez's power. But I think that at certain times in the fight he may stop and want to exchange too. But we're all ready for that. We're preparing well."

Vazquez and his team are hoping a victory will lead to even bigger and better fights in the near future. "I think this is the most important fight up to now in his career," Espinoza says. "Because if Israel happens to win this fight, it would open the doors to bigger and better things."

"We're planning to move up to featherweight," he continues. "Hopefully we can get a fight with Manny Pacquiao. After all, Larios did go the distance [against Pacquiao]. Pacquiao couldn't knock out Larios, and Vazquez knocked him out twice, once in the first fight and once in the third. So we'd be more than willing to move up in weight because this is a business, and monetarily we know that it would be beneficial for all of us."

Though Vazquez has been in the professional game for more than 11 years, there is a sense that he has still not reached his peak. If he is able to beat Gonzalez and keep his current winning streak going, there's no telling what heights he will be able to reach in the time he has left.