Vazquez-Marquez III Delivers The Drama

I will have more to say at some point, likely tomorrow, but I have three quick, simple thoughts about Israel Vazquez-Rafael Marquez III. It was breath-taking, and it deserves more words than I can give on short notice. It deserves words from Homer or somebody, frankly.
1.  This was better than the first two, or, at minimum, more dramatic. Thus, the trilogy’s cycle is complete: This is, bar none, one of the finest boxing trilogies of all time.
2. I scored it 113-112 for Vazquez, as did the judge who ultimately swung the victory to Vazquez. But I did so reluctantly. I do not think the low blows landed by Marquez were low enough to warrant a point deduction, given in the 10th.
3. I do, actually, think the referee was quite right to score the knockdown in the waning seconds of the 12th, because only the ropes kept Marquez from falling down. That means it’s a draw on my card if the ref doesn’t do take a point for the low blow.
Wow.
Wow.
Wow.

About Tim Starks

Tim is the founder of The Queensberry Rules and co-founder of The Transnational Boxing Rankings Board (http://www.tbrb.org). He lives in Washington, D.C. He has written for the Guardian, Economist, New Republic, Chicago Tribune and more.

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