I'll admit I was disappointed when Israel Vazquez called it quits after seven hard rounds against Rafael Marquez in their much-anticipated fight Saturday night in Carson, Nev. Although I was 3,000 miles away in the comfort of my living room in a quiet New Jersey suburb, part of me questioned whether a broken nose was a good enough reason for a boxer to quit on his stool in such a highly-anticipated fight. Go on admit it.  You thought the same thing?

In hindsight it was ludicrous to question the courage of a fighter, any fighter who is brave enough to enter the squared circle and especially someone with Vazquez's pedigree.  He is a proven Mexican warrior who has displayed his courage over and over again. If he says he couldn't continue, he deserves the benefit of the doubt from coach potatoes like us.

But at the time, the ending was certainly anti-climatic, coming when it looked like Marquez was tiring and Vazquez was getting back in the fight.  Then suddenly it was over and you wondered whether Vazquez figured it was better to fight another day than continue to engage in a war he might not be able to win.

Twenty-four hours later it was clear why we should never question a fighter or trainer when the decision is made not to continue, and why we should remember it is not our thirst for combat that should take priority when boxers battle in the ring.

Victor Burgos should have quit on his stool in his fight with Vic Darchinyan on the under-card of Vazquez-Marquez.  Clearly out-matched, under-sized and over-powered, Burgos was dropped in the second round.

But he got up and fought on, absorbing a beating at the hands of the power-punching Darchinyan. Burgos is usually an aggressive fighter, but knowing he couldn't handle Darchinyan's power, he stayed mostly on the outside, trying to minimize the damage.  Darchinyan still managed to land a number of heavy blows, eventually breaking down Burgos until he wilted at 1:27 of the 12th round when the referee stopped the fight.

Moments later Burgos was on a stretcher on his way to a hospital where he underwent immediate surgery to remove a blood clot in his brain and to reduce swelling.

The release that came late Sunday night said Burgos survived the operation, but was still in a medically induced coma.

No one would have blamed Burgos if he had quit on his stool after the seventh, eighth or ninth rounds when it was clear he had no chance to win. But he chose to fight on because that's what fighters think the fans expect them to do. That’s what their bravado tells them to do.

Some of us thought Vazquez should have fought on because that's what we expected him to do. Then we learned about Burgos and were remember, it's not about us, it's about them.

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