Israel Vazquez vs Rafael Marquez IV - Another Chapter in an Epic Saga

Joseph R. Holzer of Pugilism 101 previews tomorrow night's featherweight clash between familiar rivals Israel Vazquez and Rafael Marquez.

Last weekend, Iron Man 2 raked in $52 million, remaining at No. 1 in box office earnings in its second week of release. Sequels usually fair well financially while coming up short in critical success.

In one of the greatest trilogies in boxing history, Israel Vazquez and Rafael Marquez have built their in-ring rivalry into a franchise, a literal blockbuster epic. And as rare as it is, each successive bout was better than the previous.

On Saturday, the pair meets again on Showtime Championship Boxing at 9 p.m. ET. Appropriately dubbed "Once and Four All," the rematch has been two years in the making.

After a brutal third bout in March 2008, the then-junior featherweights took well-deserved layoffs. Marquez (38-5, 34 KOs) returned last May to score a third-round technical knockout over Jose Francisco Mendoza. Cleared to resume his career after several retinal surgeries, Vazquez (44-4, 32 KOs) disposed of Angel Antonio Priolo in the ninth round in October. Both fought at 126 pounds, and neither was as impressive as his pedigree implies.

Still, the two Mexicans are made for each other. Each brings out the best in his opponent. That is stunning considering the hall-of-fame-worthy career each has paved.

Their first bout, held in March 2007, was a slugfest that would make a casual fan cringe, with Marquez breaking Vazquez's nose in the opening round. It was all-out war until the injury detrimentally affected Vazquez's ability to breathe, resulting in a seventh-round TKO victory for Marquez.

The drama of the initial installment was only surpassed by the rematch five months later. Francis Ford Coppola couldn't have directed a more compelling sequel. In a virtual dead heat through five, Vazquez avenged his loss by scoring a stoppage in the following round. The Ring magazine named the mutual assault its Fight of the Year, as well as awarding the third stanza with Round of the Year honors.

With the rivalry tied at one apiece, the logical next step was a rubber match. The third bout -- 363 days after the first -- was highly anticipated and somehow surpassed expectations as it was one of the most thrilling and violent matches of the decade. While the previous showdowns barely made it halfway through the scheduled 12 rounds, the third offered 36 minutes of unadulterated toe-to-toe action, culminating in a dramatic final round. Vazquez nearly took Marquez out in the closing moments, scoring a late knockdown to win a split decision.  Once more, the bout earned Ring's Fight of the Year honors, as well as yielding the Round of the Year (round 4).

To put into perspective how even these combatants have been through nearly 25 grueling rounds: Nine official judges scored the three bouts, with the collective totals tallied at 678-678. You can't get closer than that. You would be hard-pressed to find equality at that talent level anywhere else in a trilogy, especially one that increases in suspense with each sequel.

Whether Vazquez, 32, and Marquez, 35 -- with a combined knockout ratio of 80 percent - are on respective downsides remains to be seen, but if they give half of any of their other barnburners, boxing fans are in for a treat.

Promoter Gary Shaw might have said it best:

"At the end of the day, boxing and boxing fans are the winners. Rafael Marquez and Israel Vazquez are two of the greatest warriors ever. They are the stuff Hollywood movies are made from."

High-priced screenwriters couldn't have penned a better script.

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