Wayne McCullough believes both Israel Vazquez and Rafael Marquez are hugely under-valued.
Neither Israel Vazquez nor Rafael Marquez are making millions of dollars per fight, nor do they have the biggest names in boxing. But the way they fight they should be rewarded with both.
Their trilogy fight took place this past Saturday night in California in front of a sold out crowd of over 8,000 fans.
Marquez won their first fight last March when Vazquez retired on his stool after the 6th round complaining of breathing problems stemming from a suspected broken nose.
Vazquez got his revenge in August when he TKO'd Marquez in round six. Sometimes, after a great first fight, the sequel isn't as good, but in this case the rematch received Ring Magazine's Fight of the Year and Round of the Year award for the third round.
So was it possible that these little guys would still have enough left in the tank for the final part of the trilogy to pull off another entertaining fight?
They were each hurt by the other in their previous two outings and Vazquez had Marquez on the canvas in both fights but they were willing to fight until they had nothing left.
This final instalment brought out a star-studded audience including Jack Nicholson, Sylvester Stallone, Tracy Ullman, Marco Antonio Barrera and Julio Cesar Chavez Jnr. Little did they know they were about to witness a bout that was, for me, the icing on the cake of the three fights.
Gameplan
The fight went the full 12 rounds, swaying back and forth with each of fighter having success during the bout. Unlike the booing last week for the Klitschko v Ibragimov fight, the fans cheered and stood almost the whole way through watching the excitement of what will surely be a candidate for Fight of the Year.
Marquez seemed to have a better gameplan this time around using his left jab and footwork to keep the stalking Vazquez at a safe distance. It worked early on and Marquez put Vazquez down in the fouth with a solid right hand to the head.
This was the first time Vazquez had been down in all three fights. He was cut over both eyes and it looked as though his nose could have been broken again.
The left eye of Marquez was being to swell and his tactical plan seemed to change after the fouth round. At that point in the fight Vazquez was down five points but he started to come back and got closer to Marquez, changing the pattern of the fight.
A point deduction for Marquez in the 10th round for repeated low blows - this one was suspect and more of a good bodyshot than a low blow - swung the fight in the direction of Vazquez.
Vazquez hurt Marquez with a right hand to the head in the final round and he fell into a corner holding onto the ropes to keep him up but referee, Pat Russell started a count with only about 5 seconds to go ultimately giving the round 10-8 to Vazquez.
Marquez complained to no avail and while he did hold onto the ropes he technically didn't get knocked down.
Split decision
The fight was ruled a split decision win for Vazquez with the judges scoring the fight 114-111, 113-112 for Vazquez and 114-111 for Marquez.
If the low blow point deduction and/or the knockdown deduction hadn't been called, the fight could have been declared a draw or swayed in Marquez's favor.
This was supposed to be the final fight but with the split decision verdict and it being such a great fight these guys could do it all again. But they have both fought three hard fights in a row and deserve a break right now.
There are bigger name guys out there who make huge money per fight and they don't deserve it, but Vazquez and Marquez gave more in these three fights than some of the higher-paid fighters give in their whole careers.
With their busted-up faces and will to fight to the end, I believe Vazquez and Marquez deserve millions of dollars each and every time they fight.
Boxing needs fighters like this. But they also need - and deserve - to be paid what they are worth.
