LOS ANGELES (September 24, 2008) World Boxing Council Super Bantamweight Champion Israel Vazquez has returned to a light training regimen in Los Angeles following a relaxing summer spent with family and friends. “It feels great to be back in the gym, although I’ve been out of serious training for a while it all came back very quickly. I won’t be sparring for a while, but everything else is going very well. It’s nice to see my friends and other fighters here and also during my morning runs..”
Vazquez’s last fight was his thrilling win over Rafael Marquez on March 1, 2008 at the Home Depot Center in Carson , California , capping off their sensational three fight trilogy with the Huntington Park resident winning two of the bouts.
The third bout, a twelve round decision win by Vazquez featuring his “goes for broke” style of capturing the final round, punctuated with a knock down in the final seconds, will most certainly headline many “Fight of the Year” lists at years end.
Despite a published report on the boxing website, BoxingConfidential.com about a fourth bout with Marquez being a done deal, Vazquez was quick to point out differently.
“We’ve fought three great bouts in succession over the last two years. While I have no problem fighting him again, my team and I are also looking at different options. Over the last few months I’ve heard my name mentioned many times for different fights and my manager Frank Espinoza is looking into each option to see what makes the most sense.
I just want to make sure the fans are not misled into thinking that a fourth fight with Marquez is my next bout due to this erroneous report.”
Vazquez stressed the importance of pleasing the fans in his upcoming fights as they happen. “The feedback and support I’ve received in this trilogy with Rafael has been overwhelming. It’s important to me that no matter who I fight that I put on a great performance.”
Said manager Frank Espinoza of the Espinoza Boxing Club, “It’s great to see Izzy back at the gym, I know he enjoyed his time off and working on the Olympic boxing coverage with Telemundo. But it’s too quick to say that he will be fighting in February against Marquez for a fourth time. We’re looking at a few different options and we will send out a press release at the appropriate time with the specifics of his next fight.
Continued Espinoza, “Over the last few years, not only in his bouts with Marquez, but also his terrific come from behind stoppage of Jhonny Gonzalez amongst his other great performances, Israel has truly shown what a crowd pleasing fighter that he is. This is a bond with boxing fans that is very important to him.”
Further information about Israel Vazquez, including a terrific photo gallery can be viewed at www.israel-vazquez.com
The ESPINOZA BOXING CLUB was started in 1991 by Los Angeles area businessman Frank Espinoza. Espinoza has earned numerous accolades for his management skills from many boxing newspaper and internet writers. In the September 2008 issue of Ring Magazine, Espinoza is praised for his outstanding handling of the career of junior featherweight world champion and “Pound for Pound” superstar Israel “EL MAGNIFICO” Vazquez.
Espinoza also has managed retired former world champion Martin “EL GALLITO” Castillo and currently manages world ranked Alex Valdez and Miguel “EL ANESTESISTA” Huerta in addition to undefeated prospects Manuel “SUAVECITO” Roman, Jesus “POLLO” Hernandez, Luis Ramos, Carlos Molina, Abraham Lopez and Ronny Rios.
For more information on The Espinoza Boxing Club, please visit their newly remodeled website at www.espinozaboxingclub.com
Euro Boxing Roundup By Per Ake Persson
EBU jr light champ Sergey Gulyakevich defends the title against slick German Vitaly Tajbert on a Spotlight Boxing promotion in Hamburg December 5.
The planned WBC eliminator between Jackson Osei Bonsu and Carlos Baldomir set for November 11 in Antwerp is off as the WBC didn´t approve it following Bonsu´s loss to Rafael Jackiewiewz, a much lower rated boxer. Jackson´s team are trying to keep the date though and are looking for another opponent.
Bernard Inom has vacated the EBU flyweight title and in a surprising move announced his retirement. Inom told l´Equipe that he had been boxing for too long and wanted to see his kids grow up.
French feather Cyril Thomas defends the IBF Int´l title November 20 in St Quentin against Spaniard Ivan Ruiz Morote. EuroSport televise the mainbouts from the show.
EBU cruiser champ Marco Huck got a tough mandatory challenger in Russian Valery Brudov.
Hungarian supermiddle Karoly Balzsay is back after his cut eye injury December 9 in Solden, Austria. Balzsay was all set to take on Denis Inkin this Saturday for the WBO interim title but was cut in sparring.
Gianluca Branco defends the EBU jr welter title November 14 somewhere in Italy against an opponent to be announced. On the same show Giuseppe Lauri and Giorgio Marinelli clash for the EU jr welter crown.
WBO I/C welter champ Christian Bladt defends the title against Italian Sven Paris in Frosinone November 28. Paris tunes up October 30 in Savigliano on the undercard to a show headlined by superfeathers Antonio De Vitis and Zsolt Nagy in a WBA I/C titlefight.
WIBF jr fly champ Julia Sahin is off Saturday´s show in Hamburg and out of her contract with Universum. Sahin has, according to a press release from Universum, wanted out of her contract to fight for another promoter – and she got out to what seems to be a very uncertain future at least boxingwise.
Sauerland Event have three fighters on a show in Erfurt September 27: Jr middles Alex Abraham and Koko Murat as well as cruiser Jimmy Kapanov are all featured against carefully selected opponents. EBU champ Karo Murat will be ringside.
The internal SES “eliminator” between middles Marco Schulze and Enrico Wolf set for October 10 in Barleben is off as Wolf has withdrawn with an injury. Schulz will still fight on the show headlined by Oliver Guettel and Timo Hoffmann but against another opponent.