Israel Vazquez and Rafael Marquez had already etched their names in boxing history with their back-to-back junior featherweight wars in 2007. Marquez, the former bantamweight champion, had moved up in weight to challenge Vazquez for the title in their first explosive confrontation in March and won the fight of the year candidate via seventh-round TKO when Vazquez could not continue because of a serious nose injury. Had the fighters not faced each other again in 2007, the bout might have stood the test of time as the year's best. Five months later, however, their August rematch trumped the first fight. This time, Vazquez regained the title via sixth-round knockout in a battle that was even more sensational, ferocious and action-packed than the first installment. It was universally hailed as the fight of the year. Fans were bracing for another hot fight when Vazquez and Marquez met again on March 1, 2008 at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif., the site of their first bout almost one year to the day earlier. At the top of telecast, Showtime's Steve Albert set the stage. "If the tiebreaker between Israel Vazquez and Rafael Marquez turns out to be the fight of the year, it won't surprise a single boxing fan," Albert said. "That's because Vazquez-Marquez I and II were bloody and brutal battles that featured power punching, knockdowns, changes in momentum and the highest level of skills." So how could the rubber match possibly meet the incredibly high standard set by the first two encounters? It seemed impossible, yet the Mexican stars found a way to exceed every expectation by delivering an extraordinary battle for the ages, a bout that had all of the drama, excitement, blood, heart and skill of their first two fights -- and then some -- not to mention so many more rounds of sustained action. http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/boxing/columns/story?columnist=rafael_dan&id=3800364
