If ever two fighters have earned a payday, Israel Vasquez and Rafael Marquez deserve one for their children’s college funds.
On Saturday night Showtime brings us their fourth fight against each other. Their first against each other in 26 months as they recuperated and took tuneup fights to get off a little rust.
Their first three fights were all with 350 days.
This fight isn’t about titles or weights (about 122 lbs.). It’s about pride.
I have enjoyed every round of each fight and Showtime deserved every dime they billed me for so it’s a win-win situation all around.
I hope it’s close Saturday night but these two have spilled enough blood for me in the first three fights and neither has anything to prove anymore. But they will.
If one wins by a KO or a wide score, the loser might momentarily feel bad but shouldn’t hang his head for long because these two have done the sport and themselves proud.
The third fight between Riddick Bowe and Evander Holyfield ended in a knockout but I thought it was the worst of their three.
It just depends on what you like and you don’t have to explain it to anybody else. If you liked it, you liked it.
I happen to think the Tony Zale vs. Rocky Graziano middleweight trilogy in black and white on film was the best trilogy I ever saw, even better than Muhammad Ali vs. Joe Frazier.
Fighters that have had three big fights against the same opponent are rare. Even more rare are four-fight legacies some have left us and Bernard Fernandez of the Philadelphia Daily News did some exhaustive research here.
Other four-somes have included Jersey Joe Walcott vs. Ezzard Charles; Ike Williams vs. Beau Jack; and most recently Azumah Nelson vs. Jesse James Leija between 1993 – 1996.
I believe the first two Vasquez vs. Marquez fights didn’t bring the two fighters large paydays. Certainly less than less-deserving heavyweight contenders that go up against either Klitschko over the years.
So I congratulate both fighters for stepping between the ropes against each other for a fourth time Saturday night.
