by Richard McManus

Boxing fans are by nature very excitable.  We can get excited about a fight months before it is scheduled to take place.  Can the same be said for the fans of any other sport?  And because of our excitable nature we’re sometimes willing to accept just about anything on the promise of an exciting boxing match.

“I will give my life if necessary to win this fight,” said Rafael Marquez (36-3) in reference to his scheduled March 3 bout with Israel Vasquez.  “This is going to be the fight of the year,” Vasquez (41-3) added in the press conference to promote the bout.

Okay, okay, we’ve heard this before.  But quotes like these are usually all we have to hear to get excited enough to look forward to a fight.  Quotes like these raise our expectations and sometimes, set us up for disappointment when a fight fails to meet our preconceived ideas.

Is this just another case of fighters saying all the right things in the press conference?  That’s a rhetorical question so you’ll have to answer it for yourself but my boxing fan instincts tell me this one is for real.  For the hardcore fan, no hyperbolic press conference was even necessary here.

So coming from these two world-class boxers, we tend to believe them.  Both of these guys ring warriors with reputations that precede them among the hardcore boxing fan.  And, knowing their styles and the body of work that they’ve created, it’s almost not necessary for them to engage in such boxing overstatement.  Did they even engage in overstatement?  Probably not.  We already know what to expect from them.  They have never given anything less.

First of all, this match-up is a natural rivalry along the lines of Erik Morales vs. Marco Antonio Barrera.  There is so much more than just pride on the line here.  Both fighters are from Mexico City.  Both are on top of their respective divisions with Marquez moving up in weight and challenging for Vasquez’s title.  And both men are at or near the primes of their boxing careers.

So, what is the Vasquez vs. Marquez match going to look like?  Well, it’s probably going to look like one heck of a fight.  But aside from that, what can we expect?

Well, we know that Vasquez can be out-boxed for portions of a match.  This was never more in evidence than in his fight last September when upstart Jhonny Gonzalez nearly dethroned him with a front-running boxing masterpiece.  But we also know that he can knock out his opponent and we know he does it for a living.

The trouble for Jhonny, in his bout with Vasquez, was that he simply couldn’t hang in the deep waters with a devastating puncher like Vasquez.  Once Vasquez got to connecting on Gonzalez chin with the vicious artillery he’s known for, it was all Gonzalez’s corner could do to throw in the towel and spare him from what was turning into a brutal beating.

Although Marquez is quite skilled in the ring, he’s not the boxer that Gonzalez is.  He’s not tall and lanky and doesn’t tend to work off the jab in the way that Gonzalez does.   But he is an excellent boxer and, like his brother Juan Manuel, has the technical skills to box effectively against a slugger like Vasquez.

Marquez is also moving up a half a division for his first foray into the Super Bantamweight ranks at the championship level (he has a few fights north of 118 but nothing of any real significance).

He’s an inch shorter than Vasquez but boasts a 2 ½“ reach advantage.  But these physical stats should be inconsequential to the outcome of the fight.

Vasquez, with 30 professional knockouts, has stopped some tough guys, among them Jorge Eliecer Julio, Trinidad Mendoza, Oscar Larrios and the aforementioned Gonzalez to name a few.

Marquez to his credit has 32 stoppages in 36 pro bouts including an 8th Round TKO win over Mark “Too Sharp” Johnson in 2002 and back to back inside the distance wins over the previously undefeated South African Silence Mabuza.

While Marquez has made his name by winning bouts inside of the distance and hasn’t lost a fight since 2000, he does have the technical skills to potentially stay away from Vasquez’ big guns.

Marquez can win a technical boxing match against the naturally bigger Vasquez.  It can happen.  Marquez could jab and move and use the technical style he learned from “Nacho” Beristain to win a tactical decision.  That could happen, but I doubt it will.   However, if he chooses to slug with Vasquez things might not go quite his way.

Vasquez is the bigger man with more power and really only knows one gear.  Straight ahead.  And his game plan will no doubt be to put his fist on Marquez’s chin as many times as possible.  How will Marquez react?  A part of Marquez technical proficiency lies in his ability to counter-punch effectively and he will need to utilize all of that skill to win this fight.

“I’m here to fight. I’m not here to dance around and neither is Vazquez. That’s why I think this fight is certainly going to live up to its billing,” says Rafael Marquez at the pre-fight press conference on February 14.

Neither man is expected to run or use “boxing and moving” as their strategy in this fight.  I think we can take these guys on their word.  So, as a skeptical fan, I’ve heard it all before but this time I can believe it.