But there was a heavy price to pay. In the immediate aftermath of this brutal slugfest, you could see the swelling and bruising on both Vazquez and Marquez. The blackening of their eyes had made them look like raccoons. They had put each other though the meat grinder. This fight, along with the previous 13 rounds they had battled, had certainly shortened their life spans as fighters, much the way other hotly contested rivalries had depleted the battery life of past boxers. Frank Espinoza, the manager of Vazquez had said that after that bout in March of 2008, that his fighter would- under no circumstances- fight the rest of that calendar year.
The well-earned hiatus would turn out to be much longer than that. Because in addition to the superficial damage suffered by Vazquez, he also had much bigger concerns- internal damage to his right eye.
" He told me about two, three days after the last fight with Marquez," said Espinoza." He told me that he was starting to see flashes and that he could see only halfway with the eye, the top. He couldn’t see the bottom. So right away, I took him to a specialist and they determined he had a detached retina."
The problems were just beginning for Vazquez as it took several procedures for his eye to fully heal.
" After the first surgery, three weeks later I started training and I started to see blurry. That’s when I let Frank know I was having a problem," recalled Vazquez, through interpreter Ralph Gonzalez. For months he had to sport sunglasses whenever he went out." We went to see the doctor again and he told us that there was a problem again and that there was no way I was going to fight anytime soon."
He believes he detached his retina sometime during the third match with Marquez. But in reality, it could’ve been caused by years of tough, grueling contests. One thing about Vazquez, he’s never been afraid to be in a good fight. His resume is dotted with ’Fight of the Year’ candidates, dating back to his battles with Oscar Larios and Jhonny Gonzalez. But in that last match with Marquez, he did seem to get hit significantly more than he did in the rematch, when he gained revenge by halting Marquez in six.
Vazquez says," I slugged it out that fight but it was more to show the people at the Home Depot Center and just everybody that I was brave and had a lot of heart. I just basically started slugging. I deviated from our plan."
In what seemed to be a cruel irony, the unassuming Vazquez, who for so long had lived in the shadow of his Mexican colleagues like Marco Antonio Barrera, Erik Morales and Juan Manuel Marquez, would not have an opportunity to capitalize on his new found fame and respect. He had gotten all the way to the mountain top, only to be partially blinded. He had finally cracked the pound-for-pound list, only to be faced with the specter of retirement.
" It was very traumatic, actually," he admitted, of the past year." For awhile it seemed as though my career wasn’t going to get back on track. But with careful observation with the doctor and with the rest, I feel like I’m ready." He’s just 31 years old, but in boxing years, because of his past history, he is probably much older. During this stretch away from the ring, he had begun the process of preparing for life as a civilian." Definitely, I was working on myself, mentally, learning English. It’s coming along, now. I still have some problems trying to carry a conversation but I’m very confident that I will learn English. It’s something that will help me after I leave boxing."
The fear was that he would leave this profession sooner rather than later.
" There was always that doubt," said Espinoza, who came out of pocket thousands of dollars for the various surgeries." After he had the first surgery, then you had the second surgery, then you had the third surgery. So there were some questions. But after the third surgery, things worked out. He got the doctors approval, he got his license and he’s ready to go."
After he was cleared medically in May, Vazquez was back in the gym by June. Now he puts the finishing touches for his return to the ring this upcoming Saturday night at the Nokia Theater at L.A. Live versus Angel Priolo
" I feel great. The break that I had for a year-and-six months has actually helped me. I feel great and I’m ready to get back," said Vazquez, last Friday afternoon at the S. El Monte Boxing Club, while getting his hands wrapped by trainer Rudy Perez. This day was a particularly light session at the gym. After shadow-boxing a few rounds, he went three rounds on the double-end bag before another spell of shadow-boxing, while bouncing a rubber ball on the floor( a drill that is a particular favorite of Perez). Physically, he looks good. His legs seem to have a bounce to them and he displays good hand-speed. But then, doesn’t everybody look good under these circumstances? We really wont know anything till live bullets are flying around.
Just about every time Vazquez has fought( which is 47 times) his outings are like car collisions. He pays a pretty heavy price for his offensive style of fighting. It’s crowd-pleasing, yet also physically taxing. In addition to his detached retina, Vazquez has also suffered from a badly damaged nose and he now cuts easily over both eyes. When this guy fights it’s as much demolition derby as it is boxing.
The respected Perez knows that he will never transform him into Willie Pep, but he says," What I’ve done is try to add defense and just trying to avoid half of the shots that he usually takes." As you see him work with Vazquez, it’s apparent that he is stressing more head movement. Through Gonzalez, he explained," It’s something I teach all my fighters and I’m very defensive-minded, I employ offense too, but you always have to have defensive plans."
Barrera, his former pupil, was an example of a banger who was able to make the transition to becoming a boxer-puncher, who absorbed less damage later in his career. Most likely, Vazquez won’t have that same type of success in altering his style. His representatives are handling his return with care. They make no bones about it, Priolo was a carefully hand-picked foe.
" Listen, c’mon, he’s been out of boxing for 19 months and we want to bring him back correctly," said his manager." I think that with Angel Priolo, it’s a good comeback fight for Israel." The objective is very clear, get through this one as clean as possible and then set up another edition of Vazquez-Marquez." Oh, yeah, absolutely, that’s the only fight out there that’s going to bring both of these kids that type of money, if they fight again. They wont make any kind of money fighting anybody else."
But first things, first, he has to test the waters this weekend.
" I actually feel anxious and excited to get back in the ring," said Vazquez." I feel very capable of coming back and I want to reach all the goals I had set for myself before these fights. I just see those fights with Marquez as something from the past and those injuries as something that happened from way back.
" It doesn’t effect me, now."
ESPINOZA BOXING PROMOTIONS
In addition to Golden Boy Promotions, ’the Return’ is being co-promoted by Espinoza Boxing Promotions, which is run by Frank Espinoza Jr. Tickets for this show at the Nokia Theater are priced at: $200, $100, $75, $50 and $25. They can be purchased by calling 800-745-3000 or by logging onto Ticketmaster.com.
And of course, you can also go to the STAPLES Center box-office.
Since this fight is being televised by HBO Plus, that means if you’re in the States, the only way you will be able to catch this show live is actually being inside the building on Saturday night.
SHOBOX
Just a few thoughts on the latest edition of Shobox:
- Allan Green showed why many folks simply didn’t care if he was included in the ’Super Six’ or not. Against, Tarvis Simms, a late replacement for Victor Oganov, he seemingly went through the motions over 10 dreary rounds. Sometimes, even in boxing, it isn’t just enough to win.
- I liked the pair of prospects brought to the dance by Lou DiBella. Middleweight Marcus Johnson showed a pretty good skill set. I’d like to see how regular activity benefits him after being put on the deep freeze by Don King for the past couple of years. As for Antwone Smith, he’s quickly becoming one of my favorite young fighters. In walking down and wearing out Henry Crawford, he showed that he is very much like an old-school fighter, who will always make for good TV.
FINAL FLURRIES
OK, so does David Tua have one more run left in him?....The ultra-talented Jorge Linares defends his WBA 130-pound title vs. Juan Carlos Salgado in Japan on Saturday. He recently inked a deal with Golden Boy....Read that Derrick Wilson also signed a deal with GBP, I guess Bernard Hopkins wasn’t kidding when he said he wanted him signed after he KO’d Charles Huerta.....For all of those who have asked, yes, my new/old radio show,’ the Main Event’ can be found on Maxboxing( and, it’s also free!). It will also be archived and available on podcast in it’s entirety. The premiere takes place on Wednesday at 6 pm, Pacific. The show will be one hour to begin with....Is it just me, or is Cowboys QB Tony OhNo!!! dangerous to his receivers health?....Look-a-like, Raider quarterback JaMarcus Bust and Ryan Leaf.....Miami is 3-1 after this opening gauntlet. I’ll take that all day....For those of you having technical problems with your Maxboxing account please email me at
k9kim@yahoo.com....
Twitter.com/stevemaxboxing....
