As many expected, the old eye injuries were a problem for Israel Vazquez, and the warrior was stopped in the third round by his great rival, Rafael Marquez.

Marquez (39-5, 35 KO) and Vazquz (44-5, 32 KO) battled hard in the first round, but by the end of it, Vazquez was already bleeding from his left eye. The second was all Marquez, and the third saw Vazquez bleeding heavily from over both eyes. Vazquez took a knee at one point, fought on, and referee Raul Caiz Jr. was forced to stop the action just moments later.

This was exactly what I expected. That is not Israel Vazquez anymore, because he can't make it out of a round with anyone remotely capable and not have his eyes bust open. Marquez may not be the fighter he once was, but he still looks to have something left. Vazquez just doesn't. I scored the first round for Israel on some good power shots, but I don't think he has the power anymore, either.

But nothing about Vazquez's pure remaining skill is the problem. It's the eyes. He's not going to be able to win fights without knocking guys out fast.

There's talk of a fifth fight now. If they sign that, I'll flat-out protest. There is no need. This exact same thing will happen once again. I don't want to see Pacquiao-Morales IV, either. Erik Morales ain't Erik Morales anymore, and Israel Vazquez is not even close to the fighter he used to be. He's going to need more surgery, which Israel hinted at after the fight, and at some point, enough is more than enough.

In the co-feature, Yonnhy Perez (20-0-1, 14 KO) retained his IBF bantamweight title in a very good fight against Abner Mares (20-0-1, 13 KO) with a majority draw. One judge scored it 115-113 for Mares, and the other two had it 114-114. Bad Left Hook scored it 116-112 for Mares, and almost all of us in the live thread had it for the challenger. It was a hell of a good fight that deserves an immediate rematch. I think a rematch could be even better, given what they learned about one another in this one.

Near the end of the broadcast, Vazquez and Marquez were shown in the ring holding up five fingers each. Gary Shaw smiled and did the same. I groaned.

At 9pm EDT tonight, Showtime goes live from the Staples Center in Los Angeles. The action will kick off with a great co-feature, as Yonnhy Perez defends a bantamweight title against Abner Mares, and then we go to the main event, where two of the greatest warriors of a generation meet for the fourth time.

ISRAEL VAZQUEZ "Magnifico"		RAFAEL MARQUEZ
	Main Event

We didn't do a Last Five Fights feature for either of these fights for a couple reasons. First, it's tough to do one for Vazquez-Marquez. Three of their last five each have been with each other, and their last fight each in '09 was a comeback fight for both. If you combine the trilogy into "one fight," you still have problems. For Vazquez, that would mean the Priolo mess last year, the Marquez fights, the great war with Jhonny Gonzalez and Ivan Hernandez. The Gonzalez and Hernandez fights are, in my view, made rather irrelevant because the man who fought those fights is not the man who has emerged from the Marquez trilogy. The same goes for Marquez, whose five would be his easy win in Mexico last year, the Vazquez fights, two with Silence Mabuza (the rematch was really unnecessary) and Ricardo Vargas, a fight that took place five years ago.

I just don't think you can use their recent fights as much of an example of where they're at. These are hobbled warriors -- they have put themselves through the wringer and are not the pound-for-pound names they used to be.

Featherweights: Israel Vazquez v. Rafael Marquez (12 Rounds)

No belts, not even some rickety minor trinket nobody cares about, but they're scheduled for 12 anyway. They won't go 12.

Vazquez (44-4, 32 KO) and Marquez (38-5, 34 KO) first met in March 2007, a hardcore boxing fan's wet dream on paper. The 118-pound champ moving up to face the 122-pound champ, who had just retained in a glorious comeback stoppage of Jhonny Gonzalez, himself a top 118-pounder moving up to challenge the champ at super bantamweight. Vazquez and Marquez warred that night, did it again but better five months later, and then a year after their first battle, settled it (it seemed) with 12 rounds of furious action that was decided in the fight's final seconds.

Can they top those fights? No, they can't.

Can they equal those fights? No, they can't.

Can they still put on a great fight? Sure, they can.

I don't think this fight is going to last long. I'll get right to it: Marquez looked so much better in his comeback fight last year than did Vazquez in his that I don't think this fight is particularly close anymore. Marquez was already step-for-step with Vazquez. Israel was a little stronger and more resilient, Marquez was more accurate and better technically. Vazquez will still have strength, and likely still have the advantage there. The punch being the last thing to go is an old boxing cliche, and one that generally holds up to examination. Vazquez is a pretty good boxer, really, but he's a brawler by nature, and one with serious power. He'll still have the power.

Marquez, though, was already a better boxer. Not by a ton, but I thought that was clear in their three fights. The differences between them are small but obvious, I feel, which is what made for such dynamite fights. And they both have that traditional "Mexican warrior" gene. When the chips are down, their fists start moving at an electric pace.

The guy Marquez fought last year, Jose Francisco Mendoza, was a nobody who hasn't won a fight since 2006. He's 0-4-2 since then, and Marquez got him out in three rounds with little trouble. He was a bit rusty, but rust was to be expected. He finished his man without problem, though.

Vazquez fought Angel Antonio Priolo, and it was a different story. Priolo had lost six straight fights before facing Vazquez in September. Those losses were all at flyweight and bantamweight. He'd never been up as high as the featherweight limit before, which is where he fought Vazquez. Priolo had fought as low as 108 in his career. At 5'8" with a 67" reach, he wasn't quite as small as it sounds, but he still should have been no trouble. He shouldn't have been good enough to trouble Vazquez.

Trouble him he did. When Vazquez closed the show in the ninth round, the scores were 76-76 on two cards and 78-74 for Vazquez on the third, and I think the one with Vazquez leading was fairly kind to the veteran warrior. Yes, Izzy got him out, but he did so with way too much bother for my liking. That guy never should have been able to hang with Israel Vazquez, and never would have if it were the Israel Vazquez of old. He busted Vazquez up and took him way deeper than even a rusty Vazquez should have gone.

But it was because Vazquez is not just rusty, but took serious and already-obvious damage from the Marquez fights, and the other wars he's been in. Don't discount that Gonzalez fight, or his trilogy with Oscar Larios. Marquez didn't have a ton of vicious fights like that. Vazquez has had them. Three surgeries to repair a badly injured eye can't be ignored. Marquez was banged up, but Vazquez came out of the fights worse for wear, despite winning two of the three.

I do expect this to briefly look like the first three fights, or at least a battered knockoff version of those bouts. I think it'll be a good fight, and I don't think it's going to last long. Marquez is no Care Bear in there. He's going to target Vazquez's obvious weakness and exploit it. This may be the last time you see Israel Vazquez in a marquee fight, or at least one where the playing field seems even kind of even. Someone may pick him off as a name scalp after this one, but it won't mean what beating Israel Vazquez should mean.

I like Marquez in this one, and I like him big. Marquez TKO-5

Bantamweights: Yonnhy Perez v. Abner Mares (IBF Title, 12 Rounds)

This is really the more interesting and meaningful fight on the card. Perez (20-0, 14 KO) won a hell of a fight last year over Joseph Agbeko to capture a bantamweight belt on Halloween night in Vegas, a fight infamous for the strange but at the same time overreacted-to entrance of Agbeko led to the ring in chains by a white woman dressed as a gorilla. I mean, I get what people are saying, but the guy's nickname is "King Kong" and it was Halloween. This isn't rocket surgery, y'all.

Mares (20-0, 13 KO) is the one with the pure talent in this fight. The 24-year-old Mexican was an amateur standout and is a blue-chip prospect, one of Golden Boy's best young fighters. But Perez is a big, big step up in class for Mares. Yonnhy threw an astounding amount of punches that I believe would have shattered the CompuBox records last year had CompuBox been tallying that fight against Agbeko, and his constant motion propelled him to what was an upset win.

He does have flaws. Silence Mabuza was doing a great job with him in May 2009 before Perez came back with a 12th round stoppage in South Africa, on Mabuza's turf. Mares has the sort of skill that I think can take advantage of Perez, who is a damn good fighter but a bit crude and not a huge puncher, though not feather-fisted either. But the wins over Mabuza and Agbeko soundly trump anything Mares has on his pro sheet. Abner has been able to dominate the ring against everyone he's fought so far. Perez isn't going to make it that easy.

Right now, I have Perez ranked as the top bantamweight in the world, but that's a dicey call. It's one of those where he earned it more than I think he's definitely the No. 1 fighter at 118. Hozumi Hasegawa did hold the ranking before his loss to Fernando Montiel. Right now, my top four in the division are Perez, Anselmo Moreno, Montiel and Hasegawa, and there's not much between the top three. Perez had two terrific wins last year, and Moreno has been on a hell of a run. Montiel's iffy performances from before Hasegawa still weigh on my mind, and I wasn't ready to jump him all the way to the top spot.

I don't have Mares ranked top 10. It's a good division with a lot of strong fighters. But my gut feeling says Abner Mares wins this fight and joins the party. For talent, he's already up there. It's now time to start really showing what he's got against the best in the world, and Perez is at the least one of the very best. While I can see Perez's activity and height giving Mares fits, I think the better boxer wins the day this time. It could go the other way very easily, though. Mares UD-12

This Saturday's fourth fight between Israel Vazquez and Rafael Marquez is an interesting one, but perhaps for the wrong reasons.

You can go back to our coverage for the very first fight in this trilogy, back when this site was in the embryonic stages. I actually credit the Vazquez-Marquez trilogy with a lot of why this site has grown. For me personally, boxing was a passion of mine and I was a huge fan, but I was unsure if I could really run a boxing blog full-time. (Don't tell the guys I talked into letting me have this blog I said that.)

But those fights ... I knew this was the sport I wanted to focus on if I was going to blog about a sport. The trilogy was that reminder that sometimes, boxing forms a perfect storm that no other sport can touch, stirring the echoes of the past brilliantly and setting new standards at the same time. Israel Vazquez and Rafael Marquez were two of my favorite fighters before the first bout, which was at the time the one fight in boxing I most wanted to see. Marquez was dominant at 118, Vazquez an unbelievable thrill-show at 122. There was no way they could have a bad fight.

They had a great fight. Then a greater fighter. Then an even greater fight, decided in the waning second with a Vazquez knockdown of Marquez. It is incredibly rare to find two fighters who mesh so amazingly as these two have. Both with indomitable spirit, serious power, and excellent skills. They're fast, powerful and accurate. And neither one of them will quit unless they have no other option, and when they do -- as Vazquez did in the first fight -- they want to avenge that and prove it to be the exception, not the rule.

They are fighters who even in the shop-worn state they're both in, we know they'll leave whatever it is they have left in the ring.

Israel Vazquez is my favorite of the active fighters. The man is just incredible to watch perform. He's had similarly great wars with Jhonny Gonzalez and Oscar Larios, though obviously his name will always be tied first and foremost to Rafael Marquez. When Marquez was at 118, I thought the only better P4P fighter in the world was Floyd Mayweather. And both Vazquez and Marquez stayed in my top ten until well after the third fight, when it started becoming clear the toll the trilogy had taken on both.

This Saturday, we're not going to get the sort of fight they put on before, I don't think. Marquez fought once last year, mowing down a foe in Mexico. And Vazquez came back a few months later, looking (much to my chagrin) very normal and very beatable against a guy that he would have banged out in just a few rounds before.

Vazquez's right eye is not in good shape these days. Take a look at a photo of the man and it's clear. He's had three surgeries on that eye. Marquez is not who he used to be either.

Yet I'm excited for the fight. I fear, in a way, for the health of the fighters, but this is part of boxing, and if Vazquez is passing medical exams, he's able to fight. I do know some are not so excited for the fight, so where are you at? Is this a "too much" sort of thing for you, or are you glad to see them back together again?

With the lull in boxing right now about to give way to an absolute storm of compelling fights, I thought it'd be a good time to focus on 10 of them that stick out. Not all will be great (or even good) fights, but they all have distinctly interesting storylines, and will help shape what's to come on boxing's biggest stages for the rest of 2010 and into 2011.

Well, except one of them, probably, and we'll lead off with that one.

Honorable Mentions: Andre Ward and Allan Green didn't make the cut, but I suppose that could be an interesting fight if the "good" Green shows up ... Ya like old folks? Bernard Hopkins-Roy Jones Jr. II is for you ... Andre Berto's proposed fight with Carlos Quintana has some spark ... Amir Khan and Paulie Malignaggi could be good, but I'd never watch that over any of the fights on this list ... Tavoris Cloud-Glen Johnson just barely missed the cut, and will almost surely be more enjoyable to watch than at least two of the fights that did ... Koki Kameda's first WBC flyweight title defense against Pongsaklek Wonjongkam will decide the new Ring Magazine world champion at 112 pounds.

10. Israel Vazquez v. Rafael Marquez IV (May 22, Showtime)

About three years ago, I tried to do my bit to help start the hype train for the first meeting between reigning junior featherweight world champion Israel Vazquez and reigning bantamweight world champion Rafael Marquez. I could envision nothing less than a great, knock-down, drag-out fight between the two talented and exciting Mexican warriors.

They surpassed my expectations in the first fight, upped the ante in their second bout, and in their third and supposedly final battle, they put on a classic for the ages. Every time out, their fights got better, culminating in a 12-round war (how could they go 12 rounds?) that saw Vazquez storm Marquez in the final frame to secure a razor-thin decision win, snatching victory from the jaws of defeat. It was truly epic -- a word overused now (thanks, World of Warcraft), but perfect to describe the trilogy between these two men.

Like many, I had my doubts about a fourth fight. It seemed, in a way, to cheapen what they'd already done. Too much of a good thing. But with both men now campaigning at featherweight, they still offer one another the most money they can make.

It's a dangerous fight for both in so many ways. Not only that they might lose, but that it could be the last time we see either of them in the ring, or at least fighting on the top levels of the sport.

Vazquez, 32, and Marquez, 34, will forever be connected, boxing brothers in bloodshed and brutality. Like Gatti and Ward, Barrera and Morales, Ali and Frazier, and Zale and Graziano, you won't be able to mention one without quickly mentioning the other. The impact they've had on each others' careers and legacies is immeasurable. There is no Israel Vazquez as we know him without Rafael Marquez, and vice versa.

For all those reasons, I've come around and become quite excited for the fourth fight between the two. They deserve the money, the glory, and the chance to do what they wish with their careers. If their desire is to wage war one more time, then so be it. Bring it on.

Photo by Tom Casino/Showtime

9. David Haye v. John Ruiz (April 3, Sky Sports PPV)

David Haye won a paper heavyweight title from Nikolai Valuev last year in a dreadful fight that has been discussed far more than it really deserves. End of the day, Haye has the belt, Valuev and his team are now making outrageous demands for money with Vitali Klitschko's people, and old John Ruiz -- now with Golden Boy -- is in line for Britain's golden child heavyweight.

I've said from minute one that John Ruiz will be more of a danger to Haye than he's likely to get credit for being, and since he's still being given very little credit at all, I'll say it again. Ruiz is no superstar, but Haye's real (read: current) heavyweight experience is limited to the tremendously shot Monte Barrett and Valuev, who pretty much fights exactly the same no matter who he's against, because he's that limited.

Ruiz is better than Valuev, stands more of a chance at being able to cut off the ring and force Haye into a fight, and has been stopped all of one time in his career, against David Tua in 1996. We're talking 14 years ago, and we're also talking the first round knockout, and one that was exceptionally fluky-seeming. Not that Tua didn't have the power to turn anyone's lights out with a good shot, but 19 seconds? They could fight 100 times and that happens that one time.

I still figure Haye will win, whether or not he really deserves to. Ruiz's luck on scorecards isn't about to start changing at age 38, and Haye is a more dynamic fighter. But David's got the still-questionable chin, and Ruiz is a legit heavyweight who isn't a light puncher.

8. Manny Pacquiao v. Joshua Clottey (March 13, HBO PPV)

We're coming up fast on fight week for this one (though not fast enough by my watch), so I'll just put it like this for now, since we'll have a ton more when the week rolls around. Pacquiao-Clottey is compelling mostly because it has Manny Pacquiao. Clottey isn't exciting, isn't a big name, isn't a great fighter. He's solid, tough, very good, and it takes a lot of balls to fight him. This is a really good fight with the potential for a mega upset, and now that Antonio Margarito has been pulled from the undercard (thanks to that dastardly California commission, if you listen to Bob Arum), the anti-Margarito alliance can rest easy and order. Or choose not to order because the undercard isn't very good and there are too many PPVs again.

7. Arthur Abraham v. Andre Dirrell (March 6, Showtime)

Whatever you thought of the decision in Dirrell's fight with Carl Froch last year, it's hard to not admit that Dirrell showed a real aversion to mixing it up with a guy who can punch. Abraham is tremendous at exploiting weakness in his opponents and striking when the time is right, and his high-guard defensive tactics could shut down Dirrell's offense entirely.

On the other hand, if Dirrell learned to be more aggressive after the Froch fight, there's no doubt he's the quicker, more athletic guy in this fight. Using his movement and his hand speed, Dirrell could frustrate the stoic and generally non-aggressive Abraham and rack up a lot of rounds against the unbeaten Armenian, who has a habit of starting slowly. An Abraham win all but assures him of a spot in the semifinals of the tournament, no matter what happens with him in stage three. A win for Dirrell puts him right back in the tournament's running.

Photo by John Gichigi / Getty Images

6. Cristobal Arreola v. Tomasz Adamek (April 24, HBO)

Who's for real? Anyone? Arreola and Adamek are lining up to slug it out on HBO in a fight that will knock one guy out of immediate heavyweight contention, and the fight looks more interesting than ever right now.

Adamek had a bit of a conditioning scare late against Jason Estrada, running out of gas fighting at his heaviest-ever weight. If Estrada had Arreola's power, would we even be talking about this fight? Arreola can punch, and he can box a little. Adamek is a tough guy, but Arreola would be without question the heaviest hitter he's ever faced, and by a good margin at that. There's almost nothing to not like about this matchup on paper. It's about as close to a guaranteed exciting fight as you can get at heavyweight.

5. Chad Dawson v. Jean Pascal (July 17/24, HBO)

This was originally supposed to be set for June 19, but Pascal is coming off of shoulder surgery and his team says he won't be fit to go until late July. It's a good call by them, as there's no good reason to risk rushing Pascal into a fight against the top man in the light heavyweight division. Dawson is a tremendous boxer, but if you look at his sheet since he stepped up a bit in competition starting in 2006, there's nobody who has Pascal's skill set. Eric Harding, Adamek, Jesus Ruiz, Epi Mendoza, Glen Johnson (twice) and Antonio Tarver (twice) are just not the athletic specimens that Pascal is, and Pascal has proven his toughness and willingness to get hit in order to land. He's just a different animal than Adamek, Johnson or Tarver, who presented their own challenges, but nothing like what Pascal offers. Dawson may well cruise to victory, but if he does so it will be because he's that good. Pascal is about as good an opponent at 175 as Dawson is going to get right now.

4. Carl Froch v. Mikkel Kessler (April 24, Showtime)

Froch and Kessler have talked big leading up to this one, and that will probably just get more fiery as the fight draws near. Kessler fired his trainer after his embarrassingly one-sided loss to Andre Ward last November, while Froch has been dogged by questions of a hometown decision over Dirrell.

Kessler's two career losses have come against "spoilers," guys who Kessler himself described as spoiling his style and giving him fits. Joe Calzaghe and Ward bear little resemblance to the straight-forward, basic style that Froch employs. Kessler himself is about as mechanical and predictable as a top-level fighter gets, but when he's able to work behind his powerful jab, he is highly effective. Froch doesn't figure to give Kessler the headaches that Calzaghe and Ward did, so what is Froch's plan? If it's to use brute strength, I suppose there's a chance he can scare Kessler, but nobody has yet.

With Carl Froch, much as I like him, there is still that sense that he's almost living a fairytale, and that the clock has to strike midnight. It's either that or he's perennially overlooked and underappreciated. The Kessler fight will go a long way to figuring that out.

3. Yuri Foreman v. Miguel Cotto (June 5/12, PPV)

The talk of Miguel Cotto being damaged goods is overdone. He stood up to a barrage against Manny Pacquiao, withstanding two knockdowns and trying hopelessly to find a way back into the fight. Even his running seemed to be tactical in nature, as he kept looking for any way to land something on the Filipino that might slow him down. In the end, Pacquiao stopped him in the 12th when Kenny Bayless decided enough was enough, and rightfully so. But Miguel Cotto is no chump, and to be honest, Yuri Foreman is no dazzling sensation.

Foreman's best win was on that undercard against Daniel Santos, who was rather grossly out of shape, hadn't fought in a while, and hasn't been truly active in years now. Santos was once a very good and underrated fighter, but those days are gone. Yuri Foreman is as basic as a bread and water lunch, and doesn't like being hit. That's not a bad thing, but Cotto is probably going to hit him. What happens then?

As our own Matt Miller has said recently, I expect a quite ugly fight with this one, something that will have the NYC crowd booing the dreadful lack of action and amount of hugging going on. Foreman is pretty good, but on pure talent, not in Cotto's league. That said, size is going to matter, and Foreman is a bigger man. Cotto wasn't a big welterweight by any stretch, and he's going to be a tiny junior middleweight. If Cotto can't hurt Foreman or at least make him nervous, I'd expect to see a lot of Yuri jabbing his way around the ring and scoring points in a boring fight. Or Miguel might just rattle his cage early and go for the kill against a less-talented foe.

Photo by Ethan Miller / Getty Images

2. Kelly Pavlik v. Sergio Martinez (April 17, HBO)

Style-wise, Kelly Pavlik's only real challenge in his career has been Bernard Hopkins, the mental assassin who banged him around and dominated him more through willpower and smarts than physical strength, speed or agility. Martinez is a cutie southpaw who seemed tougher than previously imagined in December against Paul Williams, but Kelly Pavlik's biggest weapon -- the straight right hand -- is the southpaw killer, and Martinez has been there to get hit when he decides to get aggressive offensively. This is the first real challenge Pavlik has taken since the October '08 loss to Hopkins, and Martinez is a legitimate threat to the middleweight crown.

1. Shane Mosley v. Floyd Mayweather Jr. (May 1, HBO PPV)

What more can you say about this one? It's a mega-fight that we've been waiting on for a decade. Finally, these two will get it on and sort out what's what between them.

Following a Fight of the Year contender in which he won the IBF bantamweight title from Joseph Agbeko last Halloween, Yonnhy Perez will return on May 22 in Los Angeles to make his first defense of the belt. He'll meet unbeaten prospect Abner Mares.

The fight will be the televised co-feature on Showtime beneath the main event that night, the fourth fight between Israel Vazquez and Rafael Marquez.

Perez (20-0-1, 14 KO) outpointed Agbeko in a thrilling affair last October, a mild upset that won him his first major title. The 31 year old Colombian (who now lives in California) preceded that win with a great comeback stoppage of Silence Mabuza in South Africa last May.

Mares (19-0, 12 KO) has moved at a bit of a crawl the last couple of years, his progress stalling just a bit. He fought twice in '09, winning a couple of easy fights. Perez will be a huge step up in competition for him.

It's another good fight for Showtime, and is a perfect pairing with the main event on May 22. While Vazquez-Marquez may wind up being the last meaningful fight for both of those great warriors, we'll also have an in-prime, unbeaten titlist defending against a very promising prospect.

Like it or not, want to see it or not, Israel Vazquez and Rafael Marquez are going to wage war one more time on May 22 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Rick Reeno reports that the two sides were waiting for Showtime's final approval, and that it has been received.

Even though it's often true that limited, faded, aged, or other such fighters can often put on some of the most compelling fights because it's more about the clash of wills and styles than it is about pure skill when it comes to making a great, entertaining battle, Vazquez-Marquez IV will almost certainly not equal any of the first three fights. In those fights, we saw the perfect clashing of styles combined with top of the sport skills from both men. Sharp, accurate, hard punching littered all three bouts. I'm not sure how much of that we'll see.

More likely, I figure this fourth bout turns into more a war of attrition, finding out who has more left. Judging solely by the 2009 fights for both men, it's Marquez. When you throw in the fact that Vazquez was beaten up pretty good before stopping a guy that was coming way up in weight and shouldn't have been any threat at all, it even more widely favors Marquez. And then you consider the fact that Israel Vazquez can never be 100% again after his eye surgeries, and right now I think we're looking at a no-brainer. Marquez will win this fight by stoppage, and it may be the end of Israel Vazquez's glorious career.

But then again, you never do know. I'm happy they're both getting the good payday. They've more than earned it. For Vazquez especially, it's not like these three fights are the only thrills he's given us over the years. Bouts with Jhonny Gonzalez and Oscar Larios, among others, have been jaw-dropping, too.

The fight's going to happen, and since it is, might as well say, "Bring it on." War, boys.

Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer told Lance Pugmire of the Los Angeles Times that a fourth fight between Israel Vazquez and Rafael Marquez is looking like a go for February 27 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

He said Huntington Park's Israel Vazquez has signed to have a fourth fight with Mexico's Rafael Marquez on Feb. 27 at Staples Center. The super-bantamweight champion Vazquez engaged in two fights of the year with Marquez, but endured more than a yearlong layoff after suffering a detached retina in the memorable third fight in March 2008.

Schaefer said Marquez's promoter, Gary Shaw, and Showtime have expressed a strong willingness to make the fourth fight happen, and he expects it will.

A lot of us have said that we're not exactly itching to see Vazquez-Marquez IV, and as much as I love both fighters, I'm one of those people. Vazquez looked like he had almost nothing left in his October return against what was a very questionable opponent. Maybe it was that much rust, but I have my doubts.

But I can't argue with these guys wanting to make some money. Given the wars, they're unlikely to be fighting at the high level much long, or even fighting at all much longer. And a fourth fight with one another is going to pay them more than any other fight can.

I do wonder if Marquez's squabbles with Shaw have been resolved, because apparently that is part of what got in the way a few weeks back when Showtime offered what Shaw remembered as a one-time only deal of $2.5 million for this fight. Shaw seemed willing then to negotiate a buyout with Marquez, so we'll see what has changed.

Schaefer also named a date (March 13) for Jones-Hopkins II should both win their December 2 tune-ups, and says that Hopkins wants to move up to heavyweight and fight David Haye after that. Man, that is an intriguing idea, but I do not see a blown-up, 45-year-old Hopkins beating someone as strong as Haye.