Rafa decreasing power or israel's steel chin

Top competition, simple as that.

If you climb weight and fight the top guys, your power will "diminish" accordingly.

 

I think that Rafa has definitely lost a lot of power. For years he was considered as THE hardest puncher in the game who could finish off any fighter with one punch. He couldn't knock down Vazquez and Israel had some really bad moments in the Gonzalez fight as well as in some of his earlier fights. Marquez couldn't even hurt him badly.

No, he's not as strong as he was at BW but he's still pretty strong as a SBW.

 

Didn't Rafa beak Izzy's nose and force him to quit in his first fight at 122?

 

I remember watching Rafael against Mabuza, I don't recall if it was the first of the second fight, it was the one staged outdoor, and you could see Rafael's JABS were pushing Mabuza's whole body back.
After that fight, I started noticing his powere was not the one it used to be, especially in the first Vazquez fight, and I asked myself the same question....Vazquez has been dropped by lesser punchers, so I don't know.:huh

 

Perfectly put :good

 

Do they not say that Power is the last thing you lose?? Like ACB said, stepping up a division, fighting the best there, it will seem that his power is not what it once was

 

Yeah, it was their second fight and he staggered Mabuza badly with a jab in the first round. It also appeared to me that it was a jab that originally drew blood from Israel's nose in their first fight. But I think Allan Green said it best with his theory on why certain punchers are more or less effective against different opponents. Rafael looks like he can still bang to me, or at least that's the way it sounds when he connects.

 

Absolutely:good

 

Marquez threw some HARD punches. I don't think he lost any power. Izzy was rocked 3 or 4 times between the 2 fights, had 3 cuts opened, and had his nose broken. Izzy just has very good balance.

 

Yeah ,... what he said.

 

A combination of both.

His power decreased a bit because of the climb in weight, but he is still one mean puncher. His stiff jab alone broke Israel's nose in the first fight. While at batamweight he could knock out fighters with a single punch.

Israel's ability to take punishment is also very commendable. Gonzales knocked him down twice with great set ups but Israel rose back up to make the other corner quit.

At 122 both guys seem to have the about same punching power, which is huge, but Vazquez has a stronger chin. Rafael still has a very good chin but the guy he is dealing with can hurt anybody with a punch as well.

 

Vasquez is just a naturally bigger fighter, Just compare the size of their heads, Vasquez is way bigger than Rafa.

 

he's just fighting in a bigger division. marquez is pushin what, 33 as well?

 

Rafa looked sloppy and was brawling last fight.

I havent seen much of him, only a few fights. But other ones that I seen of him, he had good boxing skills and was patient.

In the Vasquez fight he was getting hit a lot and didnt have much defense.

Is his defense normally that bad? or was he just being careless in the fights with Vasquez?