Marquez stops Vazquez to win WBC super bantamweight title

LOS ANGELES, March 4 (Reuters) Rafael Marquez captured the World Boxing Council super bantamweight title, when holder Israel Vazquez quit on his stool before the start of the eighth round due to breathing difficulties from a broken nose.

Marquez, the International Boxing Federation bantamweight champion who moved up in weight to fight his fellow-Mexican, was quicker with his jab and combinations yesterday and rocked Vazquez with two shots to the face in the fifth.

''I couldn't breathe. I was no longer able to keep up with the fight,'' Vazquez, whose nose and right eye were swollen, said in a televised interview.

Marquez took control of the fight early with a stinging jab but a short left hook from Vazquez dropped him to the canvas in the third.

Both boxers landed heavy shots in the fifth round before Marquez stunned Vazquez with two successive blows flush on the nose that staggered the champion.

Vazquez, 29, battled on for two more rounds but told his trainer at the end of the seventh he was unable to continue.

''I was very surprised,'' Marquez said about the sudden end to the fight. ''He's the only fighter who ever dropped me, so I was very surprised.

''He's a great fighter,'' added the new champion. ''He can have a rematch.'' The 31-year-old Marquez, who said he would continue fighting at super bantamweight, improved to 37-3 while Vazquez, who was making the sixth defense of his crown, slipped to 41-4.

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