Once Again, Donaire Is World Bantam Champ With A Mission To Unify All Belts
By Teodoro Medina Reynoso
PhilBoxing.com
Mon, 31 May 2021
Once again, Nonito Donaire, Jr is World Boxing Council (WBC) bantamweight champion of the world and this time, he is definitely in the thick of things as far as the rulership of the division is concerned.
In a battle pitting two fighters who last saw action together but in separate bouts eighteen months ago, Donaire decked French defending titlist Nordine Oubaali twice in the third round and once more in the fourth prompting the referee to wave the fight off to become WBC bantamweight champion for the second time in ten years, and at 38 years old, the oldest to win a world crown in the weight class.
Donaire and Oubaali last fought in the co-main event card in Saitama, Japan in November 2019 where Donaire lost on points his WBA bantamweight super title to then unified WBA regular and IBF titleholder Naoya Inoue in the World Boxing Super Series finals and Oubaali successfully defended his WBC crown for the third time by outpointing Naoya's younger brother, Takuma.
After a very close and competitive first two and a half rounds where Oubaali and Donaire were sizing and studying each other, the fight heated up by the second minute of the third as the two began to trade heavy leathers, Oubaali with his main weapon left and Donaire with his right and also with the left. Then Donaire suddenly connected solidly with the right that toppled Oubaali for the first time in his career.
Rising up after taking the mandatory count, Oubaali tried to fight off Donaire, even landing a strong counter left of his own that momentarily stunned and backed off the Filipino. But Donaire was not letting him off the hook and threw a ponderous combination that once again fell Oubaali face first on the canvas near the end of the third. The still woozy Frenchman rose to his feet taking the mandatory eight count from the referee who thereafter ordered the bell ending the round rang while ushering Oubali to the wrong corner.
As his corner worked feverishly to stabilize him, Oubaali was told that what happened was just a mistake and that he had to bounce back in the following round.
For a while it looked like Oubaali had regained his bearing and the bounce on his feet as he proceeded to engage Donaire, shooting with his probing right to set up his left. That proved to be another mistake and this time, Donaire made sure he would not recover.
After backing him into the ropes, Donaire delivered the ponderous coup de grace, his famed left hook that sent Oubaali prostrate to the canvas. The referee had seen enough and waved the fight off, dispensing with the count.
The sight brought back memory of Donaire's knockout of Vic Darchinyan in 2007 and his first WBC bantamweight title romp over Fernando Montiel in 2012, the years when Oubaali was still making his name as an amateur internationalist and Olympian.
In his post fight interview, Donaire said he relished being WBC world bantamweight champion again as he said it is the most prestigious among the belts though he emphasized that he is bent on uniting all the titles this time around.
With the victory, Donaire put himself in line for overall dominance in the bantamweight, one of boxing's original eight weight classes, as possible clashes with the winners of the Inoue-Michael Dasmariñas WBA-IBF and Johnriel Casimero- Guillermo Rigondeaux WBO title bouts scheduled respectively this June and August, beacon.
Back in 2011, Donaire was denied of the opportunity to win all the titles in a polarized bantamweight with a tournament held by Golden Boy Promotions that pitted its wards Abner Mares, Johnny Agbeko, Anselmo Moreno, old rival Darchinyan and Yohny Perez for the WBA and IBF straps.
As he was under Bob Arum of the rival Top Rank, Donaire had to content with sensationally winning the unified WBC and WBO belts over Montiel.
Still with the support of Top Rank, Donaire geared for a confrontation with Mares, the IBF champion who had beaten Agbeko twice, Darchinyan and later at 122, Moreno.
But the Mexican let the deadline set by Arum to sign a fight contract pass and soon after even moved up to super bantamweight than have a meeting with Donaire.
After just one successful title defense, Nonito also soon left the bantamweight for the 122 lbs class--- in chase of Mares.
That ended his quest of bantamweight domination which he hopes to fulfill this time around.
The author Teodoro Medina Reynoso is a veteran boxing radio talk show host living in the Philippines. He can be reached at teddyreynoso@yahoo.com and by phone 09215309477.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Teodoro Medina Reynoso.
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