Vazquez Edges Marquez in Instant Classic, Part Three

According to Wikipedia, a legend (Latin, legenda, "things to be read") is a story of unknown origin describing plausible but extraordinary past events. Anyone who saw last night’s third brawl between Israel Vazquez and Rafael Marquez, knows that legendary is a perfect word to describe the fight and the entire trilogy. Sure, I predicted Israel Vazquez to decision Rafael Marquez in their rubber match, but I had no idea that it would surpass the Evander Holyfield- Riddick Bowe trilogy in terms of entertainment value. Muhammad Ali vs Joe Frazier is the only boxing trilogy that trumps it in my eyes. My boxing historical perspective is admittedly shorter than many Baby Boomers, but I stand by my claim.

Since three is a magic number when it comes to these two, I will break the fight into three parts:

Rounds 1-4
Rafael Marquez owned the first third of the fight. Contrary to what I had predicted, he did not appear to show any lingering effects of his previous loss to Vazquez.  He used his jab, speed and subtle movement to win most of the exchanges in the early rounds – capped by a definitive knockdown in round four which had Vazquez on the brink.

Rounds 5-8
Israel Vazquez climbs back into the fight towards the end of round five, capping the round with a huge right hand.  Although he may have lost that round, it’s a sign of things to come, as his constant pressure and volume punching appeared to be wearing down Marquez by round eight.

Rounds 9-12
What are commonly known as the championship rounds (9-12) are where the champion, Vazquez, retained his title. Vazquez takes shots in order to get in his own.  That was the story in the final rounds, especially in round 12 where Vazquez has Marquez on the brink.  This great round caps a great fight between two great warriors.  As the bell sounded, I was glad I spent 90 minutes of my evening glued to the set.

I never thought that the third fight could exceed the first two fights in terms of back-and-forth action and drama, but it did.  Not only is Vazquez-Marquez III the early favorite for fight of the year honors, it also firmly establishes their trilogy as the standard for the decade.  Like Will Smith in last year’s sci-fi blockbuster and the late, great Bob Marley’s award-winning album of the same name, Vazquez vs. Marquez is legend.