Israel Vázquez

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Israel Vázquez
Statistics
Real name Israel Vázquez Castañeda
Nickname(s) Magnifico
Rated at Super bantamweight
Height 5 ft 4.5 in (1.64 m)
Nationality Mexico Mexican
Birth date December 25, 1977 (1977-12-25) (age 32)
Birth place Mexico City, Mexico
Stance Orthodox
Boxing record
Total fights 48
Wins 44
Wins by KO 32
Losses 4
Draws 0
No contests 0

Israel Vázquez Castañeda (born December 25, 1977 in Mexico City, Mexico) is a Mexican professional boxer. He is the current Ring Super Bantamweight (Junior Featherweight) champion (122 lbs) after being stripped of his WBC Super Bantamweight championship for being inactive after a retina surgery.

Contents

[edit] 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 bested 11 opponents, most notably Oscar Larios (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 junior feather IBF title against southpaw Jose Luis Valbuena in 2003.

He knocked out undefeated Armenian Artyom Simonyan in the 5th round. In 2005, Vázquez opted to fight WBC champion Oscar Larios for a third time with the WBC belt on the line instead of defending his IBF belt. He won the rubber match by knockout in the third round, thus becoming The Ring's Junior Featherweight world champion.

On June 10, 2006, Vázquez defeated former champion Ivan Hernandez (23-1-1). Vázquez defeated the WBO Bantamweight champion Jhonny González on September 16, 2006 in a bout where Vázquez was knocked down twice before coming back to win the match by 10th round TKO.

[edit] Vázquez vs Márquez trilogy

In his next bout, Vázquez lost his title to the number one ranked Bantamweight Rafael Márquez, on March 3, 2007 when he forfeited the bout due to an injured nose.

However, in a rematch bout on July, 2007, Vásquez fought and defeated Márquez by a knockout in the sixth round. The rematch was named Ring Magazine's fights of the year for 2007.

Rafael Márquez vs. Israel Vázquez III; photo courtesy Bret Newton.

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. This fight was named 2008's Fight of the Year by The Ring Magazine. The Vázquez vs Márquez trilogy has been widely heralded as one of the best boxing trilogies in recent years.[1][2]

He is currently trained by Marco Antonio Barrera's coach, Rudy Pérez.

On January 3, Vázquez was stripped of his WBC Junior Featherweight 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'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. However, he still has not been cleared to fight.[3]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Boxing News: Israel Vazquez, Rafael Marquez, Gary Shaw, Ken Hershman and More Speak
  2. ^ ESPN - Notebook: It's trilogy time - Boxing
  3. ^ http://www.thesweetscience.com/boxing-article/6816/three-surgeries-later-israel-vazquez-good/

[edit] External links

Vacant
Title last held by
Manny Pacquiao
IBF Junior Featherweight Champion
March 25, 2004 – March 19, 2006
Stripped
Succeeded by
Steve Molitor
Preceded by
Óscar Larios
WBC Junior Featherweight Champion
December 3, 2005 – March 3, 2007
Succeeded by
Rafael Márquez
Preceded by
Paulie Ayala
Vacated
The Ring Junior Featherweight Champion
December 3, 2005 – March 3, 2007
Preceded by
Rafael Márquez
WBC Junior Featherweight Champion
August 4, 2007 – December 18, 2008
Stripped
Succeeded by
Toshiaki Nishioka
Interim Champion Promoted
The Ring Junior Featherweight Champion
August 4, 2007 – May 28, 2009
Succeeded by
Vacant
Vacated to move up to Featherweight