Israel Vázquez - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Israel Vázquez Castañeda (born December 25, 1977 in Mexico City

Mexico City

Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...

, Mexico) is a Mexican professional boxer. He is a former Super Bantamweight

Super Bantamweight

Super bantamweight is a weight division in professional boxing. The maximum weight for this division is 122 pounds, or roughly 55.34 kilograms....

(also known as Junior Featherweight) world champion, having held titles at this weight from 2004 to 2008. He is perhaps best known for his series of fights with fellow Mexican Rafael Márquez

Rafael Márquez (boxer)

Rafael Márquez Méndez is a Mexican professional boxer. He is a former world champion at the IBF / IBO Bantamweight and WBC Super Bantamweight divisions....

Career

In 1995, Vázquez made his professional debut in the bantamweight division. He stopped his first nine opponents before suffering a knock out loss himself. Fighting mainly in the US and at junior featherweight, he beat 11 opponents, most notably Óscar Larios

Oscar Larios

Óscar Larios is a professional boxer from Mexico and former WBC Super Bantamweight and Featherweight champion. He is trained by Jose "Chepo" Reynoso.-Boxing career:...

(20-0), before losing a split decision to Marcos Licona.

Vázquez scored 12 consecutive victories and in 2002, he met Larios in a rematch. This time, he was outboxed and stopped in the 12th round.

Vázquez rebounded with a stoppage of ex-world title holder Jorge Eliecer Julio and won the vacant IBF

International Boxing Federation

The International Boxing Federation or IBF is one of four major organizations recognized by IBHOF which sanction world championship boxing bouts, alongside the WBA, WBC and WBO.- History :...

Junior Featherweight title against southpaw Jose Luis Valbuena in 2003.

In the first defence of his IBF title he knocked out undefeated Armenian

Armenians

Armenian people or Armenians are a nation and ethnic group native to the Armenian Highland.The largest concentration is in Armenia having a nearly-homogeneous population with 97.9% or 3,145,354 being ethnic Armenian....

Artyom Simonyan in the 5th round. In 2005, Vázquez opted to fight WBC champion Óscar Larios for a third time with the WBC belt on the line instead of defending his IBF belt. He won the rubber match by technical knockout in the third round — after the fight was stopped due to a large cut over Larios's left eye, thus becoming The Ring

The Ring (magazine)

The Ring is an American boxing magazine that was first published in 1922 as a boxing and wrestling magazine. As the sporting legitimacy of professional wrestling came more into question, The Ring shifted to becoming exclusively a boxing oriented publication...

s Junior Featherweight world champion.

On June 10, 2006, Vázquez defeated former champion Ivan Hernandez (23-1-1). Vázquez defeated the WBO

World Boxing Organization

The World Boxing Organization is a sanctioning organization currently recognizing professional boxing world champions. The organization is recognized as one of the four major world championship groups by the IBHOF alongside the International Boxing Federation, the World Boxing Council and the...

Bantamweight champion Jhonny González

Jhonny González

Jhonny González is a Mexican professional boxer and is the current WBC featherweight champion...

on September 16, 2006 in a bout where Vázquez was knocked down twice before coming back to win the match by 10th round TKO.

Vázquez vs Márquez I, II,III, and IV

In his next bout, on March 3, 2007, Vázquez lost his title to the number one ranked Bantamweight Rafael Márquez

Rafael Márquez (boxer)

Rafael Márquez Méndez is a Mexican professional boxer. He is a former world champion at the IBF / IBO Bantamweight and WBC Super Bantamweight divisions....

. Although Vazquez scored a knockdown in the third round, he retired on his stool at the end of round seven because of breathing problems arising from a broken nose.

However, in a rematch bout on August 4, 2007, Vásquez regained his title. Vásquez, despite suffering cuts over both eyes, scored a knockout in the sixth round in a fight that was named Ring Magazine's fight of the year

Ring Magazine fights of the year

The Ring was established in 1922 and since 1945, it has named a Fight of the Year.-1940s:*1945 - Rocky Graziano KO 10 Red Cochrane I*1946 - Tony Zale KO 6 Rocky Graziano I*1947 - Rocky Graziano KO 6 Tony Zale II...

for 2007. The third round of this fight was also named Ring Magazine round of the year

Ring Magazine round of the year

The Ring was established in 1922. Since 1945, it has named a particular round of a fight as round of the year, based on the magazine's writers' criteria...

.
He fought Marquez for the third time on March 1, 2008, rising from a fourth round knockdown to prevail by split decision in another great fight. Márquez was deducted one point for low blows in round ten and received an eight count in the final seconds of round twelve. The fight was named 2008's Fight of the Year by The Ring Magazine and the fourth round was named Ring Magazine round of the year. The Vázquez vs Márquez trilogy has been widely heralded as one of the best boxing trilogies in recent years.

On December 18, 2008, Vázquez was stripped of his WBC Super Bantamweight Championship after not defending the title for a certain period of time due to a detached retina he had suffered during his third fight with Márquez. Japanese fighter Toshiaki Nishioka

Toshiaki Nishioka

is a Japanese professional boxer who is the current WBC super bantamweight champion. Nishioka is currently ranked as the #1 super bantamweight in the world by The Ring and ESPN. Unlike most other Japan's world champions, Nishioka has been willing to fight outside of his own country.- 1976 to 1990s...

's WBC Interim title was promoted to actual championship status after his victory over Genaro Garcia. After undergoing three surgeries, Vázquez was medically cleared to resume training on May 15, 2009.

Vazquez fought Marquez for a fourth time on May 22, 2010. The bout took place in the Featherweight

Featherweight

Featherweight is a weight class division in the sport of boxing. There are similarly named divisions under several Mixed Martial Arts organizations and in Greco-Roman wrestling.-Professional boxing:...

division and was held at the Staples Center

Staples Center

Staples Center is a multi-purpose sports arena in Downtown Los Angeles. Adjacent to the L.A. Live development, it is located next to the Los Angeles Convention Center complex along Figueroa Street. Opening on October 17, 1999, it is one of the major sporting facilities in the Greater Los Angeles...

in Los Angeles, California, United States. The match was appropriately titled "Once and Four All" and carried live by Showtime. Marquez scored a third round TKO victory over Vazquez to even their series at two wins each.
Afterwards, Marquez stated: "The fifth one could be a possibility if the fans vote for it. That is what I live for. Israel Vasquez is a great fighter." However, it was felt by some observers that the much faded Vaquez should retire. Frank Espinoza, Vazquez's longtime handler, stated that his "career is over".

Professional boxing record

|align="center" colspan=8|44 Wins (32 knockouts, 12 decisions), 5 Losses (4 by knockout, 1 by decision), 0 Draws
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| align="center" style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3"|Notes
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Rafael Marquez

Rafael Márquez (boxer)

Rafael Márquez Méndez is a Mexican professional boxer. He is a former world champion at the IBF / IBO Bantamweight and WBC Super Bantamweight divisions....

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