By David Martinez / Boxing Historian

This past weekend Showtime scored a big knockout with two outstanding fights shown on “live” home television.

On Friday evening, February 29, from Lemoore, California, Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero was at his peak performance in successfully defending his IBF Featherweight Championship with an electrifying eighth round knockout over top contender Jason Litzau.

The following night on Saturday, March 1, from The Home Depot Center in Carson, California, boxing fans were treated to another classic when Israel Vazquez successfully defended his WBC Super Bantamweight Championship with a 12 round split decision over number one contender and former champion Rafael Marquez in the “rubber match” of their historic rivalry.

The scorecards were so close, that a low blow deduction in the tenth round was the difference in the match. I, personally, did not think it was warranted for referee Pat Russell charging Marquez with the foul, as the punch was right at the belt line.

After twelve exciting non-stop action rounds, my scorecard was 114 to 111 for Vazquez as the winner. Even after Vazquez was knocked down in the 4th round and after a huge 7th round by Marquez, it appeared at that point that Marquez would take complete control of the fight. But Vasquez took charge in the later rounds, in what essentially sealed the fight for him, with huge eleventh & twelfth rounds and capped off by sending Marquez down just seconds before the end of the fight.

Both fighters will now take a long and well deserved rest before entering the ring again. If either fighter decides to move up in weight from Super Bantamweight (122 pounds) to Featherweight (126 pounds) – they will find Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero waiting for them!