De La Vega: Time for The Flash to Call it a Day!
By Ed de la Vega, DDS
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 22 Apr 2018
Many times one of my idols in sports writing, Ka Recah Trinidad is on target when making predictions in boxing. In fact, he predicted rather strongly that Nonito Donaire , Jr., will beat Carl Frampton at their fight in Belfast tonight.
Said Ka Recah: ?Frampton is the overwhelming hometown favorite, but Donaire has all the experience, craft and power to prevail and be a star again.?
Alas, Ka Recah was wrong!
Tonight at Belfast, Nonito Donaire Jr., the man called ?The Filipino Flash? lost via a miserable unanimous decision to Carl Frampton. All three judges saw the fight at 117-111. Frampton thus won the WBO Interim Featherweight belt.
I believe Nonito Donaire at age 35 thought he still can fight at the same level when he was blowing away guys like Jorge Arce, Fernando Montiel and Vic Darchinyan. He was young, fast and strong those days.
All that, appears to be gone. Donaire does not have the same abilities any more. In fact even his fabulous defense crafted by his father when he was his trainer, is not there anymore. When was the last time we saw Donaire suffer facial damage as early as the second round?
The diminished defense and the fact that he fought Frampton at 126 lbs made it worse. I do not think he is suited for the said weight class. His speed is gone and so is the power. Nicolas Walters showed vividly that Nonito does not belong at the 126 lbs. division.
Against Frampton, Donaire scored the only telling blow in round 11. It shook Frampton but he did not fall. That to me is an indication that Donaire did not carry his ?power? up to 126. In short, he was on the wrong division.
Again!
I may be wrong but in my opinion Donaire took the fight at 126 lbs because perhaps at this stage of his career, there are not too many chances out there any more.
Truthfully, I believe that Donaire should start preparing for another job.
I said that with no disrespect. In fact, I really like Donaire as well as his family. And I respect what he had done in boxing. That is why I am suggesting this early that he should start looking for another job. Perhaps he should quit fighting and enjoy his growing family. He may not take my suggestion lightly, but I think retiring is the best thing for him.
Donaire has nothing to prove anymore. He has had his time and what a ride he had!
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