Showtime Honors The Vazquez-Marquez Rivalry

Photo Credit: Tom Casino/SHOWTIME

SHOWTIME SPORTS^® TO HONOR ANNIVERSARY OF

ISRAEL VAZQUEZ-RAFAEL MARQUEZ RIVARLY

WITH CLASSIC FIGHTS, ROUNDS, PHOTOS, STATS & MORE

Full Fights To Be Offered On SHOWTIME EXTREME^®, SHOWTIME ANYTIME^®

& SHOWTIME ON DEMAND^® Beginning With Vazquez-Marquez I

TONIGHT At 10 p.m. ET/PT On SHOWTIME EXTREME

Watch the 2007 Round of the Year

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NEW YORK (March 3, 2015) – SHOWTIME Sports will offer boxing fans a chance to relive one of boxing’s most intense and brutal rivalries as it rolls out content in celebration of the classic showdowns between Mexican legendsIsrael Vazquez and Rafael Marquez.

Tonight, on the eighth anniversary of their epic first battle, SHOWTIME EXTREME (10 p.m. ET/PT) will present Vazquez-Marquez I, a unanimous selection of 2007 Fight of the Year. Then on Wednesday, Vazquez-Marquez II, an old-school slugfest that produced a Round of the Year Winner, will air at 11 p.m. ET/PT. The third installment, the 2008 Fight of The Year, will air on Thursday at 10 p.m. ET/PT on SHOWTIME EXTREME

Plus, Vazquez-Marquez I-IV will air in a “Roadblock” this Saturday on SHOWTIME EXTREME beginning at Noon ET/PT.

In honor of the rivalry, SHOWTIME Sports will also release classic photos, quick-hitting highlights, stats as well as full rounds. The third round from Vazquez-Marquez I and the third round from Vazquez-Marquez II (2007 Round of the Year) will be available on YouTube, Facebook and the SHOWTIME Sports website. Additionally, The Boxing Blog will release three posts from SHOWTIME boxing analyst and historian Steve Farhood as he looks back on the first three epic meetings between the 122-pound warriors.

All four Vazquez-Marquez fights will be available on SHOWTIME ANYTIME and SHOWTIME ON DEMAND beginning Monday, March 9. Below is the full schedule of action on SHOWTIME EXTREME:

TODAY/Tuesday, March 3

• SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING: Vazquez vs. Marquez I, 10 p.m. ET/PT

Wednesday, March 4

• SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING: Vazquez vs. Marquez II, 11 p.m. ET/PT

Thursday, March 5

• SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING: Vazquez vs. Marquez III, 10 p.m. ET/PT

Saturday, March 7

• SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING: Vazquez vs. Marquez I, Noon ET/PT
• SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING: Vazquez vs. Marquez II, 1 p.m. ET/PT
• SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING: Vazquez vs. Marquez III, 2 p.m. ET/PT
• SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING: Vazquez vs. Marquez IV, 3 p.m. ET/PT

Described by Farhood as “an explosion of artistic brutality,” their first meeting had all the action and drama of a Hollywood blockbuster and left fans –and the fighters– clamoring for a rematch. Vazquez and Marquez delivered yet again in their second meeting just five months later in yet another old-school, bloody slugfest that produced a Round of the Year winner –the third– and a result that demanded a rubber match.

Vazquez-Marquez III, contested just 363 days from their first meeting, was a celebration of boxing at its finest, the only match in the rivalry to go the distance and the 2008 Fight of the Year. The two would meet for the fourth and final time again in 2010.

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