Marquez versus Vasquez and the Lord of the Flyweights

I won’t call myself a prophet even though I went four for four on last night’s predictions. There were only two bouts that were competitive match-ups.

I like the competitive spirit and tenacity of Miranda. Aside from that 8th round knockdown he beat the crap out of Green. He would have had a stoppage had this been a 12 rounder. He’s being hyped as a power puncher but he’s more of a grinder. His aggression and pressure are what leads to his knockouts. I do think he would be highly competitive against Jermain Taylor and that is a bout I would pay to see.

Cotto’s bout against Urkal was a snooze-fest. Cotto felt no threat from Urkal and pretty much fought the bout on half speed. The intensity he had against Quintana wasn’t there simply because it wasn’t needed. Urkal wasn’t a threat. I do agree with Jim Lampley in that the open scoring was certainly a factor in the corner’s decision to throw in the towel.

Which was needed in the Vic Darchinyan-Victor Burgos fight on Showtime. This was sick, Darchinyan was literally cranking up a monster left cross and Burgos simply couldn’t avoid it to save his life (literally). I have never seen such a size disparity in a flyweight bout. This fight should have been stopped as early as the third and no later than the tenth. The referee, and the ringside physician never made the slightest move to stop this bout. The normally excellent announcing team of Steve Albert and Al Bernstein made no mention that this was a complete mismatch. You wonder sometimes if these announcers try to make the fight sound more competitive than it really is as they don't want to upset the company that they work for. This was sick.

All I can say is "Wow" regarding the Marquez-Vasquez bout. This bout was a throwback to the great Mexican rivalries of yesteryear. Admittedly, I didn’t think it would be as competitive as it became. For two rounds, I felt like a genius as Marquez was surgically chopping down Vasquez. In the third, Vasquez showed the same grit and firepower that bailed him out against Jhonny Gonzalez as he nailed Marquez with a left hook that he never saw coming. Marquez was seriously hurt and short-circuited. From there on, it became a damn good slugfest. Vasquez ended up quitting in the 8th because of the broken nose but it was a valiant effort. His nose looked broken in multiple places and simply looked grotesque. An early candidate for fight of the year but I doubt it will stand as the ending was too anti-climactic.