FanHouse Rafael Marquez

A fourth bout between Israel Vazquez and Rafael Marquez "is 70 percent done," according to an e-mail received by FanHouse early Sunday morning from Gary Shaw, the promoter of Marquez.

The 34-year-old Marquez (38-5) ended a 14-month layoff in May when he scored a third-round knockout -- the 34th of his career -- over 37-year-old Jose Francisco Mendoza.

Last month, the 31-year-old Vazquez overcame a 19-month layoff for a ninth-round knockout over Colombia's Angel Antonio Priolo, whom he floored three times.

Vazquez, who rose to 44-4 with his 32nd career knockout, dropped Priolo to 30-8 with 20 knockouts.

Both Marquez and Vazquez fought their last bouts at the 126-pound featherweight limit -- this after having previously clashed at super bantamweight (122 pounds).

Israel Vazquez defeated Rafael Marquez by split decision in another very good fight between the two best 122-pounders in the world.

Vazquez entered the ring as the junior featherweight/super bantamweight champion, having beaten Marquez in a classic fight on August 4. Marquez had previously beaten Vazquez on March 3.

Vazquez went down for the first time in the trilogy in the fourth round, but he got right back up and drilled Marquez. Ultimately, Vazquez won because he knocked Marquez down with just seconds to go in the 12th round. He won on one judge's card by just one point, and that knockdown was the difference.

This was the longest fight of the three; the first fight went seven rounds and the second fight went six.

After the Kelly Pavlik-Jermain Taylor fight last night, I was flipping through the channels and heard one of the sports talking heads describe it as something along the lines of, "a rare time when boxing actually gave us a good fight."

But that got me thinking, and looking at the schedule of upcoming fights, good fights are actually not rare at all. In fact, 2008 is shaping up to be an excellent year for boxing.

Next week we've got Wladimir Klitschko taking on Sultan Ibragimov, and while neither of those guys is the most graceful fighter you'll ever see, it's a step toward unifying the heavyweight title belts, which would be a great thing for the sport.