Israel Vázquez, a Mexican boxing star known as “El Magnífico,” died Monday in L.A. of cancer. He battled health issues after a grueling boxing career.
Former world champion Israel Vázquez, a Mexican boxing star known “El Magnífico,” died Monday night at the age of 46, World Boxing Council president Mauricio Sulaimán confirmed.
The three-time world champion in the super bantamweight division starred in a fierce trio of fights against Rafael Márquez, brother of Juan Manuel Márquez. The bouts were true Mexican boxing classics that left both fighters physically scarred, as neither of them was the same after those three duels in the span of a year.
Vázquez’s boxing career ended with a 44-5 record, including 32 knockouts. He was champion of the International Boxing Federation from 2004 to 2005 and twice of the World Boxing Council from 2005 to 2008. Vázquez’s career also included three fights against Oscar “Chololo” Larios, a former world champion and stablemate of then rising star Saul “Canelo” Álvarez, winning two bouts and losing one.
“Israel Vázquez finally rests in peace,” Sulaimán, of the WBC, posted on social media. “May God give strength and support to his wife Laura, his children, family and friends in these difficult moments. Thank you champion for leaving such a special mark. You will always be the Magnificent One.”
Born on Dec. 25, 1977, in Mexico City, Vázquez was known not only for his talent but for being kind to others outside the ring.
Vázquez longed to go to college and study law, but he gradually realized he had a talent for karate and then boxing, so he told his father, Valentín, who owned a funeral home, that he wanted to train and learn to box like his brother German.
Vázquez, who adopted a fearless and aggressive fighting style, did not have a great amateur career. He made his pro debut in the bantamweight division at 17, knocking out his first nine opponents before suffering his first loss.
His manager throughout his career in the United States, Frank Espinoza, watched one of Vázquez’s fights on television and liked what he saw: power and determination. In 1998, Vázquez made his U.S. debut by defeating Antonio Ramirez by decision at Sycuan Casino in El Cajon. His talent led him to train and spar with Humberto “La Chiquita” Gonzalez and Julio Borboa, two recognized world champions.
He continued to fight mostly at the Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim until he lost by decision in Las Vegas to Marcos Licona in a fight for the vacant World Boxing Organization super bantamweight title.
Vázquez accumulated 12 more victories that led him to a WBC super bantamweight world title fight against Larios, whom he had already beaten, but he lost by knockout in 2002.
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Despite the defeat, Vázquez continued to accumulate victories and was finally crowned world champion when he defeated José Luis Valbuena at the Grand Olympic Auditorium in March 2004 to win the vacant IBF super bantamweight title, a crown he defended twice before avenging his loss to Larios and defeating him a second time by unifying the WBC and the Ring titles on Dec. 3, 2005, in Las Vegas.
Great battles followed as he defended his crown against Iván Hernández and, in a well-remembered duel, Vázquez rose from two knockdowns to defeat Mexican fighter Johnny Gonzalez in September 2006 by a 10th round knockout in what was his second defense of his reign. The fight drew the interest of several promoters.
“They noticed me because of my style. Aside from being a world champion, I also wanted to make a mark in the sport,” said Vázquez, who did not defend himself well in the ring and took a lot of punishment during his victories. “I wouldn’t change anything about my past as a boxer. In order to get what I wanted, with effort, dedication and discipline, I had to fight like that.”
Espinoza defended Vázquez’s fighting style.
“He fought for the fans, that’s what gave him the most adrenaline,” Espinoza said. “He didn’t do it for the money, nothing else. He did it to win and give satisfaction to the people. He had the heart of a warrior, of a champion.”
Vázquez and Márquez met for the first time on March 3, 2007, bringing a lot of dynamite in their fists and little fear to the ring. They represented the bravery and courage that was a hallmark of Mexican boxing, but their lack of concern about violence in the ring suggested their bouts would take a profound physical toll.
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In a duel held at the then-Home Depot Center in Carson, Vázquez knocked down Márquez in the third round, but he could not continue in the seventh round when he suffered broken cartilage in his nose. Vázquez lost his WBC crown, was criticized for not continuing despite the nose injury and later admitted he contemplated retirement after the loss.
“In the seventh round, I had to decide whether to keep fighting or save my nose,” Vázquez told the Los Angeles Times. “I decided to save my nose.”
Vázquez recalled his son, Israel Vázquez Jr., asking him when he got home “why didn’t I kept going, you could have come back and beat him.”
“So I got motivated to get my nose fixed and trained harder than ever for that second bout,” said Vázquez , who had Freddie Roach as his trainer.
Four months later, on Aug. 4, 2007 in Hidalgo, Texas, Vázquez regained his crown by knocking out Márquez in the sixth round of what was ranked as Ring Magazine’s 2007 fight of the year. Vázquez changed trainers for the fight because he didn’t believe Roach, who also was Manny Pacquiao’s trainer, dedicated as much time to him. He hired the now deceased Rudy Pérez, former trainer of Marco Antonio Barrera.
“After the first fight, there were people who thought I had given up and was making excuses for my nose,” Vázquez said. “And I took it personally. I wanted to send a message not only to Rafael, but also to non-believers. And I think I succeeded.”
Márquez was known for his constant pressure on his opponents and a lethal punch, but none of that seemed to intimidate his opponent. Márquez’s legendary trainer, Ignacio “Nacho” Beristáin, said at the time that he did not understand how his pupil had failed to knock out Vázquez.
“I can’t understand how he withstood the punches. Rafael has hit him with punches and hasn’t knocked him out. Israel is a macho man,” Beristáin acknowledged before the third bout.
In March 2008 in Carson, the third fight was staged and Vázquez won by split decision. He knocked down Márquez in the last round, which gave him the victory. His manager hired two of the best cut men in boxing, one for each eye, because of Vázquez’s constant success cutting during their duels. The event was named Ring Magazine’s 2008 fight of the year.
The victory, though sweet, began to take its toll on Vázquez. In December 2008, Vázquez was stripped of his WBC super bantamweight title when he was unable to defend his crown because of a detached retina in his right eye, the result of his third fight with Márquez, who also had three surgeries on his orbital bone as a result of the three fights. Márquez stopped fighting for a year after the trilogy.
On May 22, 2010, Vázquez fought Márquez a fourth time.
“I didn’t want them to fight a fourth time, because he already won the trilogy,” Espinoza said of Vázquez. “But Israel asked me, at that time he had economic problems and needed to make money. We knew we didn’t need to do it, but he needed to support his family.”
Márquez took the featherweight contest with a third-round knockout win over a diminished Vázquez, who eventually retired after the bout at what was then Staples Center.
“During the fight, I told him, ‘Look at your eyebrow, look at your eye,’ but Israel told me, ‘You throw it,’” Márquez recalled in an interview with the WBC. “When we went into the ring we didn’t go in with the intentions of hurting, we went in with the intention of winning.”
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Vázquez continued to have problems with his right eye, which required seven surgeries and was eventually removed in 2016 and replaced with a prosthesis.
“I consider the loss of my eye an accident. Unfortunately, the surgeries I underwent did not work, and over time it got worse,” Vázquez told The Times.
He lived in Southern California, where he became a beloved figure in the community.
“I was never filled with fake friends, people who would bring me up more than I was,” Vázquez told The Times.
After retiring, Vázquez was part of several boxing shows as a commentator, and for a time tended his defunct Magnifico Boxing Gym in South Gate, minutes from his Huntington Park home. It was obvious that Vázquez missed the boxing ring.
“I still miss a lot of things, like the adrenaline rush before a fight, the sweat dripping down my face at the end of a workout,” Vazquez said.
His health issues continued in 2018 when he was diagnosed with systemic sclerosis, a chronic disease characterized by diffuse fibrosis and vascular abnormalities in the skin, joints and internal organs.
In October, after having trouble walking, Vázquez was admitted to White Memorial Hospital in Boyle Heights and diagnosed with terminal cancer, stage 4 sarcoma. When the news was released, the boxing community rallied to support Vázquez emotionally and financially.
Before his death, friends wanted to visit Vázquez, but he accepted few requests because he wanted to be remembered as a magnificent world champion.
“He doesn’t want them to see him like that, he wants everyone to have the image of him as when he was a boxer,” said his wife Laura.
The WBC held several events to raise funds for the Vázquez family and processed the documents so his parents could be with him in his last days. Vázquez told The Times his parents were vital to achieving everything he had in boxing, because of the strict way his dad helped shape his personality with “hard teachings” and because of his mom, who he described as “the love of his life.”
Vázquez is survived by his wife, and his three children, Israel Vázquez Jr, Anthony and Zoe.
Staff writer Jad El Reda contributed to this report, which first appeared in Spanish via L.A. Times en Español.
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