Israel Vazquez

He's the ****ing man.

 

I loved the Gonzalez fight and it's a testament to how many epic bouts he's had that it isn't his greatest fight. The trilogy with Marquez, because I choose to ignore the fourth fight, was the best in boxing history, I think. It may not have had the significance of Ali/Frazier, the quality of Leonard/Duran but as far as pure excitement goes, nothing touches those first three fights, I don't think.

Hopefully he does retire, though I heard he will be returning at some point. I worry about the amount of damage he has taken in his career and people often forget that before the Marquez fights, Freddie Roach refused to train him again because he suspected Vazquez had started to slur his words and should retire.

His legacy is untouchable but his health isn't, so I hope we have seen the last of him, in the best way I can possibly mean that.

 

S,I go back to the golden age of the 1940s, and it was my favorite era, not because I'm a dinosaur, but the sheer volume of great fighters that abounded those days. But my favorite fighter of recent years was Israel Vasquez, who would have fit in nicely in that rich laden era. Vasquez had it all, courage, endurance, ruggedness and a hell of a left-hook ! And what a crowd pleaser !!! Cheers...

 

The third showdown with Marquez, which is also probably my favorite fight of all time. I loved him. Wasn't difficult to find, was proned to cuts, but damn if that guy wasn't one of the toughest *******s I've ever seen, and I always thought he was a really, really nice offensive fighter at his best, a bit underrated even. The Marquez bouts get all the attention (rightfully so), and as you said, his battle with Gonzalez was magnificent. Check out the trilogy with Larios if you haven't already. The middle bout - the one he lost - was fantastic.

 

The image of him dropping to his knees and then being carried around by his corner man as blood pours down both sides of his face after his rally to stop Marquez in the 2nd bout is my favorite in my relatively brief time as a boxing fan. I actually rooted against him the first time around (as I also love Rafa), but that 2nd fight made me a fan for life, and established him as probably my favorite fighter in boxing at the time. The guy's just about everything you want a boxer to be.

 

If he and Marquez had only 3 fights, I would've probably called it the best trilogy ever filmed.

The last round of the third fight was shades of Chacon-Limon 4.


[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8XrcGXFcmc[/ame]

 

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IntentionalButt____11-30-2006___66,740_____Boston____Israel Vazquez


Over six years running of Izzy love, right here. (was already smitten going back a few bouts before my registration on ESB...war with Guerrero, Larios rubber, the infamous platinum-hair-styled-by-his-beautician-girlfriend-turning-pink-and-then-red-with-opponent's-blood match against Hernandez, then the epic comeback against Jhonny...and to think this smash-mouth gladiatorial legacy was all cemented before the trilogy :scaredas

 

El Maginifico!!

Magnificant is what he was really, His fights with Larios, the epic fight against Gonzalez, the brutal trilogy with Rafa...What a great fighter Izzy was. Not liking him should be a serious crime punishable by long years of Prison time.

 

I love that guy, I mean how can´t you?

 

3rd fight with Rafa is one of my alltime favourites!

 

Tears for Fears! They were great. "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" is great. Spandau Ballet's "True" is one of my favorite songs ever but don't tell anyone because I feel like a sissy.

Great stuff and I agree all over the place. Vasquez is one of the many Mexican fighters practically carrying the sport who makes me wish I was Mexican. Imagine him and Barrera or Morales?

I just spent 2 months on what I'm calling the "True Successions" for all 17 weight divisions. I'm hoping that it will be some sort of beginning of the end of the nonsense that the WBSs have brought into the sport. Some of my conclusions into who was and was not a true champion are hard, though. There are rules -and if a great fighter failed to fight the successor for whatever reason, he ain't nothing but a belted pretender to the throne. Anyway, I'm happy to report that Vazquez's junior featherweight crown is legit.