THE WAR ZONE: Revisiting Classics (Vol. 5 - Israel Vazquez vs. Armando Guerrero)

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Two bodies collide. For one, the result is super-elastic - its momentum greatly increased. For the other, inelastic - bringing about total inertia.

By 2005, Israel Vazquez was already well respected in boxing circles despite being only newly crowned among its champions - having claimed the IBF title and defended it once the previous year. His guts, toughness, and offensive acuity had taken him far despite being a slow mover and never shy about taking as much as he dishes out.

Armando Guerrero brought less kinetic energy into his challenge, despite having gone three years without a loss just like the champ. While Vazquez was 5-0 (4) since his with two victories in world title bouts, Guerrero was 3-0-2 (1) with nothing meaningful there outside his draw with Jorge Lacierva. In his biggest step up in class and biggest exposure to date on ShoBox, he was forced on the back foot and whipped soundly by young athletic phenom Joan Guzman - in full blossom at his best weight, about to collect his first world title in his very next outing. Not such a terrible blight on his record on its own, but neither was it alone...joined by two more ignominious defeats and, peculiarly, half a dozen tied contests.

Still, Guerrero had shown his class in his most recent draw with highly rated Lacierva - proving he could hang at that level despite lacking anyone in his W column meriting higher marks than a C+. He showed that same world championship worthy form here when given the opportunity to upset Vazquez - something he arguably could have.

Guerrero took at least five rounds in the first half - and many in the falling action were razor thin. His straight right timed over Vazquez's jab mashed Vazquez's nose and eye tissue dealing plenty of damage until the midway point when Vazquez began to mix double-jabs and 1-2s at random, and duck after throwing in order to preemptively take away the countering play.

You could reasonably cobble together a wide array of reasonable scorecards and make valid arguments to stand behind them. A draw especially seems fair. There most certainly weren't eight clear for Izzy - and that is coming from perhaps the biggest fan of his you'll find. Yet, unanimously, he took it 116-112 and went on to greener (and, with almost kitschy symbolism reflecting the Mexican fighting spirit he embodied, redder - that is, more sanguine) pastures.

Had the cards been more favorable to Guerrero and granted him the ultimate prize or even just a seventh official career draw (and with it, exciting as this nationally televised battle was, ample leverage to pressure for a rematch) who knows what else we may have seen from the skilled Tex-Mex sharp-shooter? :conf Based on his comportment against Lacierva and Vazquez, he showed himself to be roughly the equal of both - which can't both simply be explained away with "styles make fights". Yes, both their styles may have suited him but we must also conclude that he was a more than decent boxer...with bad luck.

What did transpire is that he fought once more, another thriller with Takalani Ndlovu in which he was again second banana. After that he closed shop, just nine years a pro and without a great accomplishment.

Vazquez, for his part, still had the height of his fame ahead of him. His IBF reign was but a mere appetizer for the saga of his capture and recapture of the storied green belt. From his rubber match with Larios to his rubber match with Marquez - that is the period for which Vazquez will always be known and revered. Who could ever forget the blood of poor Ivan Hernandez staining his platinum blonde frosted hair (courtesy, IIRC, of his beautician girlfriend) to a pink hue? The insane tumultuous melee with Jhonny Gonzalez? Any installment of the Marquez trilogy?

Indeed, that space of three years was memorable and deserves to be viewed as the most important of Vazquez's career and the very reason it became legend...but there were moments that preceded it that it would be a shame to see forgotten...including this one, which ushered in that legendary run and but for the grace of three judges may have altered its course or changed all that momentum into total inertia...

 

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