The rivalry between Israel Vázquez and Rafael Márquez was a series of four boxing matches that took place between 2007 and 2010, which has been described as "the most entertaining fight series in recent boxing history", and has been compared with two other notable series of fights in the decade: Arturo Gatti vs Micky Ward and Erik Morales vs Marco Antonio Barrera. The second fight in the series was named Ring Magazine fight of the year for 2007, while the third fight won the award in 2008. The series, which took place in the super bantamweight division, finished even, with both fighters claiming two victories. Although there had been talk of a fifth fight, it had been widely discouraged by the boxing media due to the punishment absorbed by both fighters, with the injuries Vázquez suffered to his eyes a particular concern. Vázquez retired after the fourth match, while Márquez retired in 2013. Background Israel Vázquez, born 1977 in Mexico City, made his professional debut in 1995. It took until 2004 for Vázquez to get a world title shot, at which point he had compiled a record of 35 victories and 3 losses. He won the world title at his first opportunity by knocking down the IBF super bantamweight champion José Luis Valbuena twice en route to a twelfth round technical knockout. He defended the title twice - against Artyom Simonyan and Armando Guerrero. Although he was stripped of the IBF belt, he was able to win the WBC version of the title by knocking out Oscar Larios in the third round of their 2005 contest, Vázquez was also awarded the Ring Magazine Jr. Featherweight title for this victory. After a successful first defence of his title against Ivan Hernandez Vázquez fought Jhonny González in what was described as a fight of the year contender. After being knocked down in the fourth and sixth rounds Vázquez recovered to knock González down twice forcing González's corner to throw in the towel. Rafael Márquez, born 1975 in Mexico City, also made his professional debut in 1995. Márquez became a world champion for the first time in 2003 when he scored a tenth-round technical knockout victory over Tim Austin for the IBF title. Unlike Vázquez, who won his first world title in the super bantamweight division, Márquez's first world title came at bantamweight. In the first defence of his title Márquez beat Mauricio