He sat at a table a year ago in a New York restaurant, dressed in a conservative suit and unknown to most in a crowd that was there to honor him. Israel Vazquez didn’t care. It also didn’t bother him that the plaque, the symbol of his honor, was not there either. It, like him, had apparently been overlooked
But Vazquez was there.
He was happy for the honor at the Boxing Writers Association’s 84th annual dinner and business-like in his acceptance of a professional milestone, the 2008 Fight of the Year, on a night when rival and partner Rafael Marquez couldn’t be there because of an auto accident near the Mexico City airport earlier that day.
It was a moment when other fighters might have felt insulted and angry enough to complain loudly and often. Vazquez didn’t. Celebrity has never been part of a job definition that he and Marquez will define and refine for a fourth time Saturday night in a Showtime-televised encore at Staples Center in Los Angeles.
Vazquez-Marquez, already a memorable trilogy, is about to become further entrenched in historical lore, although both approach it without any of the tired hyperbole attached to Fights of the Century that now seem to happen every other year.
“It is the biggest day of my life,’’ said Vazquez, who won the two rematches, yet also looms as the underdog in the fourth because of scars that include a broken nose and damaged retina. “With this fight, Marquez and I will definitely be part of boxing history, even more so than now.’’
History speaks for itself, although Floyd Mayweather Jr. often speaks as though it has yet to say enough about him and how he belongs alongside Sugar Ray Robinson, or Muhammad Ali, or Julius Caesar. But Vazquez and Marquez aren’t trying to talk their way into history. They are only trying to make some.
“There are no words to say,’’ Marquez said. “There are no introductions to make. Everybody knows us.’’
Their understated fashion leaves no room for role playing or mind games. What everybody knows about Marquez and Vazquez is that they what to be known for what they do and not what they say. Imagine that. I’m not sure what old-school means anymore. If there is a face book for what it was, however, the defining faces are Vazquez and Marquez. In part, that’s why so many historical parallels are being drawn to their four-peat.
It’s rare and evocative with names from black-and-white newsreels of Ezzard Charles-versus- Jerry Joe Walcott and Willie Pepp-versus-Sandy Saddler. Boxing was big in those days. It might never be again. For one night, however, Vazquez and Marquez will explain why it was with workmanship that says it all instead of the words that say so little.
More Four
The former King of the Four Rounders, Eric “Butterbean” Esch, is attempting to become a heavyweight promoter. How heavy? He is somewhere near 400 pounds. Esch, whose promotional interest and personal preference is in mixed martial arts, is promoting a pay-per-view MMA card, Moonsin, Friday night (9 p.m. ET) at the DCU Center in Worcester Mass., featuring Tim Sylvia against Mariusz Pudzianowski.
Esch also had planned to fight. But the Massachusetts commission reportedly wouldn’t approve an exhibition between him and former Boston Bruins enforcer Lyndon Byers. Apparently, Esch’s ring experience, which includes everything from boxing to sumo wrestling, was cited as a factor. No truth to the rumor that nobody could find a stool big enough to support 400 pounds.
The entertaining Esch, now 43, hasn’t abandoned boxing, even though his former division, heavyweight, almost has. He would like to promote a boxing card featuring 2008 Olympic bronze medalist Deontay Wilder in Birmingham, Ala., not far from his home in Jasper. Wilder, an unbeaten heavyweight in the initial stages of his pro career, is from Tuscaloosa.
“But nobody in the state Alabama knows who he is,’’ Esch said. “I’d like to get him some recognition in his home state.’’
Notes, anecdotes
§ Esch grew up in Alabama, but there isn’t a hint of a Southern accent in the many interviews he does with the media. “At home with my family, you’d hear it,’’ he said. “But not in the media. If the accent was there, they might have to include those subtitles.’’
§ Marquez promoter Gary Shaw thinks his fighter will stop Vazquez. “My prediction is that this fight does not go the full five rounds,’’ he said.
§ And there’s been some talk that a fourth fight between Marquez and Vazquez is one too many. There’s fear that the fighters will suffer long-term damage because of the series, already 25 rounds long and noteworthy for its sustained violence. “I recognize that,” Vazquez said Thursday at a news conference. “I don’t have anything against people who think like that. But I’m very sure that May 22, they’re going to feel different. I’m going to prove it. Honestly, of course the three battles that we had took something from us. Something from Marquez, something from me. This is boxing. This is a contact sport. You are expecting that. It is normal.”
