By: Matt Yanofsky

Last week, I had heard that power punching monster Rafael Marquez was planning to move up to from Bantamweight to Super Bantamweight after years of domination. Israel Vazquez, the Ring Magazine Super Bantamweight champion had immediately said he wanted to challenge Marquez. Vazquez is known for being in exciting fights. In his last bout, Vazquez stopped champion Jhonny Gonzalez in what may be fight of 2006. Prior to that, he stopped former champions Ivan Hernandez and Oscar Larios.

Vazquez is becoming a fixture on fans pound for pound list while also building some popularity. Although he is a devastating puncher and a top pound for pound puncher, Marquez has always been underrated. Part of the problem is lack of exposure and the publicity of his older brother Juan Manuel who has fought Manny Pacquiao and is slated to do battle with Marco Antonio Barerra. Marquez might be moving up for exposure as much as anything else. Shotime has been rumored to broadcast this potential fight of the year candidate.

I hope this fight will finally give the winner the exposure he deserves. It is a shame that too often casual fans forget about the fast and exciting lower weight fighters and become fixed on the mostly slow and boring heavyweights. Most of the top fights are between smaller guys whose fists will fly until the bell sounds. I can