In boxing six years can be an eternity for the arc of a career and the landscape of different levels of class. Six years and fourteen pounds ago Nonito Donaire was not the pound for pound fighter he is today but a real unknown. His abilities and progress as a fighter had not shown anything indicating what was to come for the sensational fighter has ultimately become. He was heading into his first world title bout all the down at flyweight against an emerging star in Vic Darchinyan.
A very cocky Darchinyan was making his seventh defense of his International Boxing Federation championship and had been on an impressive run knocking out all in his path minus one exception. That exception was Glenn Donaire, the older brother of Nonito, who lost a technical decision after an accidental foul resulted in a broken jaw. Heading into this fight it did not appear that Nonito was going to bring anything into this fight that was going to stop the blossoming Darchinyan from continuing his drive toward the larger stardom of boxing as he was hyped to be capable of.
The narrative for Timothy Bradley’s career before last night was that of negativity and spoiled success. Bradley has been a fighter more criticized than praised on his rise to prominence and his time in the limelight has been one of turmoil. Boxing fans and pundits alike have had a slow transition to giving credit to Bradley after his ugly technical decision win over Devon Alexander in 2011 and his controversial decision over pound for pound boxing icon Manny Pacquiao.