By Jim Dower: Promoters Oscar De La Hoya and Gary Shaw are reportedly not interested in putting together a 5th bout between Rafael Marquez and Israel Vazquez, according to Kevin Iole of Yahoo Sports. It’s pretty easy to see why. Vazquez, with all the scar tissue around both of his eyes, was easily cut by Marquez over the left eye in the 1st round of the fight. The cut worsened as the fight progressed and in the 3rd round, Vazquez sustained a second deep cut, this one over his right eye.

At this point, Vazquez was literally fighting blind with blood dripping into both eyes making it impossible to see the punches from Marquez. Soon after, Marquez landed a short hammering right hand to the side of Vazquez’s head causing him to go down to one knee. The punch wasn’t anything remarkable but the fact that Vazquez couldn’t see left him not prepared to take the impact. After Vazquez got to his feet he was driven back by a series of blows from Marquez, who was raining shots on Vazquez, one after another until the referee stopped the fight while Vazquez was futilely trying to cover up.

Beyond the scar tissue problems over both of Vazquez’s eyes, the signs were already there that he didn’t have it anymore in his last fight against Angel Antonio Priolo last year in October. Priolo, a 36-year-old, 2nd tier, who came into the fight having lost his last six fights, dominated Vazquez for eight rounds until getting caught with a big right hand in the 9th and stopped. Vazquez looked like a shell of his former self in that fight from two years and didn’t seem to have it anymore. This is why it seemed a stretch to have a 4th fight between him and Marquez. It was no longer interesting given the decline in Vazquez’s performance.

Vazquez’s huge cut over his left eye reportedly required a plastic surgeon to go three levels to sew it up. The cut was so deep that it went all the way to the bone. Chances are the scar tissue from this cut will be a problem in the future should Vazquez decide to continue his boxing career. After Saturday’s fight both him and Marquez expressed interest in fighting for a 5th time, if the boxing fans are interested. I doubt they will be after seeing how easily Vazquez was beaten.

They might if Vazquez were able to come back from this fight, beat a number of top fighters and show that he still has it. Right now, I think Vazquez would have huge problems trying to beat lesser fighters in the 2nd tier, much less a top level fighter. It’s not that he doesn’t have power. He can still punch, but his eyes are a problems and I don’t think he can hold together for 12 rounds if he gets hit too much.