Israel Vazquez provides the crowd with a McDonald's Fillet-O-Face courtesy of his scar tissue and Rafael Marquez' punches. Thankfully, it looks like there won't be a best of five in this series.Some thoughts on the recent happenings in the world of the Sweet Science:
News: Rafael Marquez knocks out Israel Vazquez in the third round of their featherweight clash Saturday after two hellacious cuts render Vazquez unable to see.
Views: This is why, even as a huge fan of both guys, I did not want to see this fight. There’s a reason it took both guys over a year to fight again after they completed their awesome trilogy in 2008. Vazquez, especially, looked very shaky his last time out against Angel Priolo last October; for that matter, Marquez certainly didn’t look like the pound-for-pound world-beater he was when he beat Jose Francisco Mendoza either, and that was a year ago. It was obvious to all but the blind that their three fights together had taken too much out of them, and to expect some kind of war this time around was fool’s gold. When Showtime analyst Antonio Tarver (who is really solidifying his place as the best ex-fighter doing color commentary today) took one look at Vazquez’ left eye and said it looked ready to open up prior to the fight even starting, you knew this one wasn’t going very far. The fight was barely two minutes old when that eye opened up, and Marquez (who was always the more skilled of the two) had more than enough to get Vazquez out of there two rounds later. Add yet another cut on Vazquez’ other eye in the third round from a headbutt, and the valiant Mexican just couldn’t see. The gruesome cut that Vazquez sported after the fight looked like it was done with a machete or something. The outcome was not satisfying at all and was actually a little sad, which is what I was afraid would happen.
News: While there was talk of a fifth fight between the two after the fight (the series is tied at 2-2), Vazquez’ manager, Frank Espinosa, said Israel would likely have to retire instead.
Views: Finally some smart talk from someone who genuinely cares about his fighter. At the very least, Vazquez will need major reconstructive surgery on that right eye just so he won’t look like he spent 20 years in the WWE. Given that prospect, why put him in the ring again? It’s too great a risk. He made a lot of money during his career, and no one is disputing his place as one of the great Mexican warriors in the history of boxing; we’ll remember his three fights with Marquez forever. How excruciating must it have been for his family to watch Vazquez’ face get carved up like a Christmas turkey? Sometimes, enough is enough, and it looks like it’s time for Vazquez to call it a career. There’s nothing more to prove between he and Marquez; they’ve both proved their greatness whether they do another thing in the sport or not.
News: On the undercard, bantamweights Yonnhy Perez and Abner Mares battled to a spirited draw.
Views: Anyone else excited about the 118-pound division these days? We already have Fernando Montiel, Vic Darchinyan, Hozumi Hasegawa and Joseph Agbeko at the top of the division, and now you can add both Perez and Mares to the mix. Yes, Perez did look like he was in trouble at the end of the fight (and the Finito had it 116-112 Mares), but Perez made it a fun scrap to watch and landed quite a few shots of his own. There were several close rounds, so the draw was a pretty good call. Not only is this one begging for a rematch, but you wouldn’t mind seeing either guy in with the names mentioned above instead, either. While each fighter has great skills, both have enough flaws that would make any combination of those matchups fun to watch. The biggest hurdle that Perez and Mares faced was getting a lot of TV time; that really shouldn’t be a problem from here on out.
News: Ruslan Chagaev decisions Kali Meehan to garner the WBA’s mandatory challenger to new titleist David Haye.
Views: So let me get this right: Chagaev gets destroyed by Wladamir Klitschko and loses his title, so now he gets to fight Kali Meehan (who’s ranked #1 by the WBA for some inexplicable reason) and get another shot? You would think that any organization would look at that beat down and decide that Chagaev needed to win a few more fights to get back in the title picture. No, friends this is the WBA! Instead, Chagaev gets to earn another shot by beating a guy who’s best known for losing every significant heavyweight fight he’s ever had. It’s just silly at this point, and it makes me wonder why fighters take these sanctioning bodies and their titles seriously. Yeah, sure the gold looks nice to carry into the ring, but by charging thousands every fight just to keep it, that belt seems just a tad overpriced. No wonder “Money” Mayweather told the WBA (stands for We’re Beyond Asinine, I think) to take a walk rather than pay the sanctioning fee for Shane Mosley’s title.
News: Manny Pacquiao is diagnosed with a mild stomach ulcer Monday.
Views: Between running for Congress in the Philippines and having to negotiate with Floyd Mayweather, I’m surprised the man doesn’t guzzle Tums by the box! Seriously, though, many Pac-Man fans have always worried that he’s spreading himself too thin with all the commitments he has going on. Between politics, fighting, movies, ads, charities and everything else, he makes the Dos Equis’ “Most Interesting Man In the World” look like a burger flipper at White Castle (heard their burgers will give you ulcers, too). We all want Pacquiao to be thrilling the boxing world for years to come, but he may need to dial it back a bit if he’s going to jeopardize his health. He needs to be a threat to his opponent’s health, not his own.
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