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A fourth Vazquez-Marquez fight: Too much?

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If you haven’t seen any of the three prior classic fights between Israel Vazquez and Rafael Marquez, you’ll have a fourth opportunity May 22 when the heroic pair step into the ring once more, this time at Staples Center.

Twice, their battles have been declared ‘Fight of the Year.’ Once, Vazquez broke his nose and couldn’t fight anymore. Another time, Marquez was battered in a sixth-round technical-knockout loss. Most recently, Vazquez had his eyesight nearly irreparably damaged, Marquez suffered a brutal 12th-round beating, and Vazquez raised his arms after a thrilling split-decision.

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They can’t fight again, someone on press row demanded, they’ll kill each other.

Yet, under the title, ‘Once and FOUR All,’ the show is going on. Tickets, ranging from $25 to $250, will go on sale Friday at Staples Center box office and Ticketmaster.

‘It took me a lot of time to come back to being the old Israel,’ Vazquez, 32, said Thursday, two years and nearly three weeks removed from his epic third bout with Marquez at Home Depot Center in Carson. ‘I’m going to show you guys.’

Hasn’t he already? Vazquez’s compelling 12th-round comeback in the last Marquez fight, gaining a knockdown in the final 10 seconds to win the decision by a point, has clinched these ‘legends are tied at the hip,’ heading to boxing’s hall of fame, as one promoter put it.

But Vazquez certainly didn’t seem like his old self in his only fight between then and now, a lackluster performance capped by a ninth-round knockdown of Angel Antonio Priolo in October.

Vazquez underwent three eye surgeries to repair a detached retina suffered in the third Marquez bout, and the toll of 25 incredibly entertaining rounds with Marquez has left its mark.

Fight co-promoter Oscar De La Hoya admits he was one of the many, including Vazquez’s wife, Laura, who originally expressed no appetite for a fourth fight.

‘I didn’t want to see it,’ De La Hoya said. ‘You’re always concerned.’

Vazquez said he ‘understands, recognizes’ the safety concerns.

‘I have nothing against people who think like that, but May 22, whatever they’re thinking now will be different. I’ll prove that.’

Marquez, 34, and his promoter, Gary Shaw, both projected a victory over Vazquez by knockout. Marquez went as far as saying it might not last two rounds, contending a switch of trainers from ‘Nacho’ Beristain to Daniel Zaragoza and a dedication to training will make ‘me much better than the first three,’ Marquez said.

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Marquez denied that the first three bouts have lessened him.

Vazquez was honest.

‘Of course, the three fights took something from me, from Marquez,’ Vazquez said. ‘This is boxing, a contact sport. That’s normal.’

--Lance Pugmire

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