One of the best trilogies in recent boxing history, if not the best of recent history, was Israel Vazquez vs. Rafael Marquez. While the two eventually clashed a fourth time, it was in the first three where history was rewritten. Right here, courtesy of Showtime, you can re-watch some Vazquez vs. Marquez fight highlights.
Showtime will be replaying Vazquez vs. Marquez I on March 3rd at 10pm. The first fight was the 2007 Fight of the Year.
The second fight featured the 2007 Round of the Year. Vazquez vs. Marquez II will be shown this Wednesday, March 4th, at 11pm.
The third installment, the 2008 Fight of The Year, will air on Thursday at 10 pm.
Plus, Vazquez-Marquez I-IV will air in a “Roadblock” this Saturday at noon.
Described by Farhood as “an explosion of artistic brutality,” their first meeting had all the action and drama of a Hollywood blockbuster and left fans –and the fighters– clamoring for a rematch. Vazquez and Marquez delivered yet again in their second meeting just five months later in yet another old-school, bloody slugfest that produced a Round of the Year winner –the third– and a result that demanded a rubber match.
Vazquez-Marquez III, contested just 363 days from their first meeting, was a celebration of boxing at its finest, the only match in the rivalry to go the distance and the 2008 Fight of the Year. The two would meet for the fourth and final time again in 2010.
These epic battles were as fierce and action-packed as anything the sport has seen, and it was fought at the absolute highest of levels. Both men showed phenomenal heart and will, as the fights turned in one direction and then another. Marquez, the more technically solid, Vazquez, with the monster left hook that could bail him out of anything, and both men willing to eat a punch or three for a chance to land one back.
Enjoy the Vazquez vs. Marquez video highlights here and catch the full fight replays of their first and second encounters this week on Showtime.
