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LOS ANGELES – The series between Israel Vazquez and Rafael Marquez ended Saturday as it began three years ago, just a few miles down the round – with Marquez beating up Vazquez and claiming an impressive technical knockout victory, in front of 9,200 fans at the Staples Center.

Marquez stopped Vazquez at 1:33 of the third round Saturday in the fourth battle in one of the greatest boxing rivalries ever.

More big fights, against the likes of Juan Manuel Lopez, Celestino Caballero and, yes, perhaps even Vic Darchinyan, await Marquez. He remains one of boxing's stars and elite champions.

The future is much more murky for Vazquez, who suffered a gash on his left eyelid and eyebrow that was so large the bone was exposed. Plastic surgeon Pearlman D. Hicks had to go three levels to close the cut. Miguel Diaz, Vazquez's fabulous cut man, said he'd only seen one cut that could compare to the one Vazquez suffered when he was ripped open by a

LOS ANGELES – Kevin Iole's unofficial scorecard from Rafael Marquez's third-round TKO victory over Israel Vazquez at the Staples Center on Saturday night. Judges Max DeLuca and Steve Mora gave Marquez both of the first two rounds on their scorecard; Alejandro Rochin gave Vazquez the first and Marquez the second.

The United States Anti-Doping Agency confirmed Friday that the final blood sample taken from Shane Mosley was April 12 and the final one taken from Floyd Mayweather was April 13 as part of their agreement to undergo random, Olympic-style testing prior to their May 1 welterweight boxing match in Las Vegas.

Mayweather won the fight by a wide unanimous decision. Each man was tested seven times prior to the fight and then again on the night of the fight by USADA, which will retain their samples for future testing. Each of the eight tests included required the fighters to provide urine samples; they were required to give blood four times.

Mayweather gave blood and urine on March 22, April 1, April 13 and then May 1 after the fight. He gave urine only on April 3, April 6, April 21 and April 24.

Mosley gave blood and urine on March 23, March 31, April 12 and then May 1 after the fight. He gave urine only on March 29, April 7, April 20 and April 26.

The news of the date of the final pre-fight

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NORTH LAS VEGAS, Nev. – Anyone who has spent more than a few seconds training with Todd Duffee raves about his potential.

Frank Mir, the former Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight champion, can't stop singing Duffee's praises. Veteran heavyweight Carmelo Marrero calls Duffee one of the biggest, fastest and strongest heavyweights he's rolled with. UFC president Dana White was touting Duffee's talent before Duffee debuted in the UFC last year.

It's a struggle to keep those who are familiar with his talent from gushing. Nearly everyone who's around him for any length of time comes away impressed. He's become a fan favorite because of his record-setting, seven-second stoppage of Tim Hague at UFC 102 last August – but he can't understand the fuss.

Duffee is preparing to fight veteran Mike Russow (12-1) on May 29 at UFC 114 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. "This definitely feels like my debut," Duffee said. "I don't feel like

You can follow Kevin Iole on Twitter at @KevinI

You could ask 100 boxing experts to name the most important attribute a fighter needs to be successful.

You'd probably hear such diverse answers as punching power, fast hands, quick feet, a good chin and plenty of courage.

All of them are good answers, but none of them is the answer.

They're all wrong. Dead wrong.

I'd suggest that zero of those 100 experts would actually get it correct.

Without question, though, the answer would have to be the ability to breathe.

If you doubt that, ask Israel Vazquez, who on Saturday will take on Rafael Marquez for the fourth time in their glorious rivalry in a Showtime-televised card from the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

Vazquez has won the last two meetings between the men, two of the better fights in modern times, both of which were named the Yahoo! Sports Fight of the Year.

In the first one, though, the record shows that Marquez won by technical knockout in the seventh round.

Vazquez, though, simply

Ten years from now, Israel Vazquez will slowly pull himself out of a chair, wince, and think of Rafael Marquez.

In 15 years, Marquez will roll over in bed, feel a pain, and remember Vazquez.

They won't be the same men. They'll carry with them for the rest of their lives the reminders of their epic battles: A sore this, a painful that.

They won't be the same men on Saturday, when they meet for a fourth time in their epic series at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, as they were the night in 2007 when they first stood across the ring from each other.

Then, they were young fighters eager to please, anxious to pummel someone as much for glory and honor as for the ability to secure their futures. Now, they're grizzled, wizened veterans, keenly aware of the toll the sport exacts on some of its greatest warriors.

They're no less proud and no less competitive, though, and so Saturday's Showtime-televised bout likely won't be significantly different from the first three.

They'll punish each

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I was very impressed by Alistair Overeem in his win over Brett Rogers on Saturday's Strikeforce card in St. Louis.

I picked Rogers before the bout, but I knew I was wrong seconds into the match when Overeem took the center of the cage and had Rogers circling tentatively and backing up. Overeem's advantage in terms of experience was clearly evident, but if he continues to fight that way he's going to be a handful for any heavyweight.

With that, let's delve into the mailbag, where I respond to your questions and comments on a wide variety of mixed martial arts topics.

Boxers Ricardo Mayorga and James Toney coming to fight in mixed martial arts (or trying to) got me thinking about boxers who may have a chance in MMA. The only boxer I could think of who could make the transition is Kermit Cintron. With his wrestling background, I think it would be interesting to see him in MMA. I don't think it will ever happen, unless they

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When 20 of 33 boxing writers voted for Floyd Mayweather Jr. and not Manny Pacquiao as No. 1 in the May Yahoo! Sports boxing rankings, it created quite a firestorm among Pacquiao supporters.

Cries of racism abounded. Many questioned the validity of the panel, though their logic is somewhat lost given that Pacquiao held the top spot even after Mayweather returned in 2009 from a brief retirement.

The same panel that Pacquiao supporters wanted to deride as racist, pro-American and incompetent voted Pacquiao, not Mayweather, No. 1 from October 2009 through April 2010.

Pacquiao fans complained in large numbers about the change at the top. Very few, though, actually made a point. Most – more than 95 percent, I'd estimate – resorted to ranting, name-calling and race-baiting.

Conveniently, nearly every one of those left off their last names, their e-mail addresses and/or their hometowns.

Lito Ferrer was one of the few who included his last name.