This Saturday night from the Turning Stone Resort and Casino in Verona, New York, Miguel Vazquez defends his IBF lightweight crown versus his mandatory challenger, Marvin Quintero. After his defeat of Daniel Attah on the undercard of Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.?s stoppage of Andy Lee in El Paso back in June, it was thought that Vazquez?s next assignment would come against Mercito Gesta. And the ideal landing spot would be in support of the fourth edition of Manny Pacquiao vs. Juan Manuel Marquez, eventually scheduled for December the 8th. But in the meantime, the IBF – which has the temerity to actually follow its own rules and regulations – called for a purse bid between Vazquez and Quintero.
So a choice had to be made; does Vazquez drop the belt or drop the idea of facing Gesta?
It turns out, none of the above. Vazquez and his team made the decision to defend their title and proceed with the fight in December. Yes, a modern-day champion will be fighting twice in a span of six weeks. Somewhere up there, Henry Armstrong is smiling at the mere thought.
?It motivates me; it?s the fight that I want. I?ve been training hard so I have a lot of confidence in my preparation that in winning this fight, I want to fight the big names, the big challenges. So Mercito Gesta will be another step,? he said last week at the Azteca Gym in Bell, California. Anything can happen in a prizefight from a clash of heads that can cause a cut, a punch that breaks a nose, a fractured hand or a bottle being thrown into the ring that hits you in the face (hey, this is boxing after all). But Vazquez says that having a spot waiting for him on the December card in Las Vegas will not affect the way he performs this weekend. ?Not at all,? he said through his adviser, Ricky Mota. ?I kinda look at this fight as a tune-up. Quintero is a southpaw, so I think it?s great for preparing for Gesta and my strategies. So it?s not going to change anything at all. So to me, it?s like a tune-up on HBO for me to go to Gesta.?
For Vazquez, this is a golden opportunity, to not only get his first exposure on a premium cable network (this will be his HBO debut) but then be exposed on a card that will have international coverage. There?s also this: because he?s not a guy who HBO or Showtime have jumped on, he has the opportunities to stay more active than many of his championship contemporaries. On the flipside, because Vazquez is not making a ton of money, he has to take work when he can get it. He isn?t getting paid much this weekend (well under six figures) but he will make a career-high payday if he can make it clean to the Gesta fight (well over six figures).
What helps his cause is that his style isn?t in line with the stereotypical, face-first, Mexican style. Vazquez is a slippery, tricky boxer who is almost impossible to hit cleanly. Punching him flush is like catching a wet noodle. It?s not a fan-friendly style; it can be best described as ?awkwardly effective.?
Bruce Trampler, Top Rank?s matchmaker says, ?Vazquez is the kind of guy that could fight every week, every other week. He has that sort of style. If he was fighting back in the ?30s or ?40s, he would be fighting that often.? Trampler doesn?t believe fighters, in general, fight enough nowadays. Fighting three times in a calendar year for a champion now qualifies as being active. ?We think that to be a good fighter, you have to be active and you have to work at your trade and I think a lot of fighters suffer from inactivity today.? He added this analogy, ?It would be like a baseball player only playing 30 games a year instead of 162.?
Because of his difficult style, Vazquez has problems enticing the marquee names in his division to step in there with him. But he?s always in the gym (or at the nearby LA Fitness in Montebello) working out. Going by Trampler?s analogy, Vazquez is that guy who?s always taking batting practice but he?s always ready to take his cuts when called upon. When asked how much time he takes off after his bouts, he explains, ?I only rest – at the most – one week after the fight. And if I come out without too much damage, which I usually don?t, I?m back at the gym after the second or third day.?
His trainer, Javier Capetillo, states (through Mota), ?He?s one of the most disciplined fighters that I?ve had. Without a doubt, he?s very disciplined. I?d say that he trains – I wouldn?t even say at 100-percent – he?s the type of fighter that gives you 120, 130 percent in the gym and on the roadwork when we go run in the morning.? The current marketplace, where fighters can take months off before returning to action, has turned many fighters into part-timers. Nothing irks trainers more than boxers who don?t return to the gym till a fight is signed on the dotted line. ?A lot of fighters do that, even world champions,? lamented Capetillo, ?but not Miguel. He takes two days, three days at the most, after a fight and he?s back training. You don?t even have to tell him anything. He?s like a soldier.?
Vazquez would have loved to have fought in an era when fighters weren?t so dependent on TV dates and when champions regularly fought more than six or seven times a year (oftentimes taking non-title affairs).
?I would love to fight that often; that?s what I?d like,? said Vazquez, who is 25 years old, ?but it?s a different business now. I understand that but if it were up to me, yeah, I?d fight more often.?
When asked about the decision to try and box on both dates, Mota remarked, ?It was the team; we all talked and discussed what?s best for Miguel and it?s something the trainer wanted to do. The date was open and we talked with Zanfer and Top Rank and they said that the date was available for him if everything came out good, without any headbutts or anything, that he could fight.?
Bottom line was that, regardless of any direction they would go, they were not dropping their IBF title.
?That is 100 percent correct; if he has a belt and it?s hard to get him fights, imagine without it,? said Mota, the realist. To fighters like Vazquez, belts are anything but meaningless. ?I mean, nobody wants to fight him with a belt, could you imagine without a belt? We?d be on the shelf for a year or so.? And beyond that, if Vazquez-Quintero was not a championship tilt, would HBO have approved it? It?s doubtful. While they make public pronouncements that they don?t care about the titles, they absolutely love having the major belts up for grabs on their telecasts.
And chances are that Gesta wouldn?t really want any part of Vazquez if he didn?t have the IBF strap in his possession.
?I think he?s ready; he?s had a long camp. So I think Quintero is going to help him out. With no disrespect to Quintero, I don?t see him at the level of Miguel. Of course, anything can happen, a headbutt and the fight falls out. But I see it as a tune-up and we?re moving onto the Gesta fight, a bigger event,? said Mota.
For guys like Vazquez, the waiting around for opportunities is the toughest part of the job.
?Without a doubt,? says this lanky lightweight, whose only losses are to the likes of Tim Bradley and twice to Saul ?Canelo? Alvarez (the first one in Vazquez?s pro debut). ?That is the most frustrating thing, waiting around, getting your dates changed, getting fights promised that you want to fight. To me, the easy part is conditioning, running, training, making weight – that?s all fine. I?m always in shape. I enjoy training.
?What?s frustrating is getting the fights and the names, the big names.?
NOT-SO-BAD
I actually like this edition of the Ross Greenburg Gimme ?Boxing After Dark? a lot more than the one that took place last month. Bottom line, this card from Verona, New York has prospects who might have higher ceilings and features better overall match-ups.
I think Thomas Dulorme of the fabled ?Team Puerto Rico? (who, for some reason, are being promoted at Indian casinos all throughout the country by TV packager Gary Shaw) will get a solid test from the rugged Argentine, Carlos Abregu. The bout between the undefeated Karim Mayfield and Mauricio Herrera could be an interesting fight (or as interesting a fight as any involving the mauling Mayfield can possibly be). And then you have Vazquez-Quintero.
Both Shaw and DiBella will get one more of these ?B.A.D.? telecasts next year.
THRICE RANK
Before Pacquiao-Marquez IV takes place on December 8th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Top Rank will have two other shows the preceding Thursday and Friday leading up to this event.
On December 6th from the Mirage (yes, they are back in the boxing business) on ESPN2, a bout between lightweights Ray Beltran and Ji-Hoon Kim has been verbally agreed to by both sides. Also on this card will be heavyweight Andy Ruiz and Puerto Rican Olympian Felix Verdejo. The following evening at the Texas Station, junior lightweight contender Diego Magdaleno is facing the always active Tom Bob Anderson (TBA) with Mexican Olympian Oscar Valdez and Jose Felix scheduled in support bouts.
