By: Matt Yanofsky

In their third straight fight of the year candidate, Israel Vazquez 43-4 (31 KO’s) earned a 12 round split decision over Rafael Marquez 37-5 (33 KO’s) to retain his WBC super bantamweight title. Marquez effectively outboxed Vazquez over the first two rounds while landing some good shots and momentarily stunning the champion. Round three was very close and outside of a low blow which Marquez was warned for, neither fighter landed a telling blow.

Marquez had an excellent round four where he dropped Vazquez with a left hook right hand combo. Vazquez showed some tremendous heart following the knockdown and quickly recovered to stun Marquez before the round ended. Marquez landed a big right hand to the head of Vazquez in the fifth but the champion battled back in a competitive round. After a thrilling sixth where both men had their moments, Vazquez aggressively perused Marquez in the seventh and controlled most of the round although Marquez did land a powerful uppercut right hand combo with about 30 seconds remaining. Vazquez again stalked Marquez in the 8th as the two warriors traded with Vazquez getting the better of it.

Round 9 was a surprisingly slow paced stanza until Marquez stunned Vazquez at the bell. Marquez was penalized a point in the tenth round for another low blow, but appeared to make the round even on the score cards with his clean hard punches. Showing some urgency, Vazquez chased down Marquez and landed a heavy right hand to the nearly closed left eye of Marquez.

With the fight up in the air, Vazquez went for broke as he began to gun for the knockout. Marquez then again began back peddling and did not throw as many punches as in earlier rounds. Vazquez rocked Marquez with a right hand while dominating the round early on. Seeing his opponent hurt, Vazquez aggressively tracked down Marquez hitting him with a right hand which knocked Marquez backwards. A follow up shot had Marquez held up by only the ropes and Referee Pat Russell ruled it a knockdown with only seconds remaining. Marquez and Vazquez both raised their hands as the bell sounded. After twelve incredible rounds, Judge Max Deluca scored it 114-111 Marquez, Tom Kazmarik 114-111 and James Jen Kin 113-112 for Israel “Magnifico” Vazquez