Hannali R. (Reseda, CA): I thought Nonito Donaire proved that he still belongs at the top of the sport with his victory over Darchinyan. How did you rate his performance? And what do you think about Rigondeaux’s bizarre request to stage a rematch in Miami?
Vivek W. (ESB): To be quite frank, I see this purely the opposite of anyone who feels this effort either “places him” or “keeps him” at the top of the sport. What I saw in Donaire was a talent who appeared totally unsure of himself, and very limited – in terms of self confidence. I’m a long time proponent of pure fundamental skills, and although I’d stop short of calling Donaire a “hype job”, when I think of the accolades received that labeled him “Fighter of the Year” and beyond, I’d be the first to say he never really had the level of talent to support such claims. Donaire’s speed and power alone made him a phenom. Beyond those two attributes, he has very little left in the tool kit and we were reminded of this again, last Saturday night.
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.
Although four division world champion Nonito Donaire had tasted defeat for the first time in twelve years when last seen in the ring, the Filipino Flash remained one of boxing’s premier fighters and an HBO attraction going into Saturday night‘s Featherweight grudge match with longtime nemesis Vic Darchinyan.
If anyone asked the newly crowned WBO Junior Middleweight Champion how he envisioned the opening stanza of his first major title opportunity playing out prior to Saturday night‘s match-up with Vanes Martirosyan, “getting floored” would have been the furthest scenario from the former Olympian’s mind.
Saturday night at the American Bank Center in Corpus Christi, TX started slow with an ugly affair between two unbeatens, Demetrius “Boo Boo” Andrade (20-0, 13 KO’s) and Vanes “Nightmare” Martirosyan (33-0-1,21 KO;s). After witnessing their ugly affair, you wondered how they stayed undefeated for so long. Vanes is trained by Freddie Roach, he was supposed to be the aggressor. Apparently no one told him that. His corner tried to, but their pleading between rounds fell on deaf ears. Viewers wanted him to do more, to do something to stop Andrade’s clumsy attempts at controlling the action.
Photo: DiBella Entertainment/Ed Diller – Earlier tonight before a boisterous sold out crowd at the Aviator Sports and Events Center in Brooklyn, NY, DiBella Entertainment presented the latest edition of its popular Broadway Boxing series. The special-edition Saturday Broadway Boxing card was entitled “Battle for Brooklyn” and was headlined by Brooklyn’s fan-favorite welterweight contenders Gabriel “Tito” Bracero and Dmitriy “Star of David” Salita.
Nonito “The Filipino Flash” Donaire came out victorious tonight against Vic “The Raging Bull” Darchinyan at the American Bank Center in Corpus Christi, Texas.
As expected, Mikey Garcia (33-0, 28 KO’s) stopped WBO super featherweight champion Roman “Rocky” Martinez (27-2-2, 16 KO’s) in the 8th round on Saturday night at the American Bank Center, in Corpus Christi, Texas, USA. Garcia knocked Martinez down with a big left hook to the body in the 8th round. Martinez wanted to get up but he was too hurt to rise to his feet. The fight was then halted by referee Lawrence Cole 0:56 of the round.
According to an article from UK newspaper The Daily Express – an article that has been read by many people online – the Floyd Mayweather-Amir Khan fight that has been talked about as a possibility for some time will indeed go ahead next May.
On July 7th, 2007, a scarcely known Filipino fighter named Nonito Donaire challenged the consensus regarded “Lord of the Flies”, Vic Darchinyan, for his IBF 112 pound title, and defeated the heavily favored champion with one swift left hook in the fifth round of their scheduled twelve round contest.