Donaire shines brightly in night of fireworks
By Joaquin Henson
PhilBoxing.com
Mon, 13 Dec 2021
WBC bantamweight champion Nonito Donaire, Jr. didn’t hold back in facing countryman Reymart Gaballo and used his vaunted left hook, this time to the body, to retain his crown on a spectacular fourth round knockout at the Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson City, Los Angeles County, Saturday night (yesterday afternoon, Manila time).
Donaire, 39, took care of business in typical workmanlike fashion even as Gaballo stood his ground in the early going. The challenger, who was only four years old when Donaire turned pro in 2001, appeared to take at least a round before the roof caved in. Known for his lethal left hook to the head, Donaire went to the body instead in delivering the coup de grace. Gaballo crumpled to the canvas, tried to get up at the count of eight, then dropped back down, unable to gather himself from the punishment of Donaire’s blistering attack. It ended at 2:59 of the fourth. After referee Ray Corona waved it off, Donaire did a victory lap around the ring, rode the corner turnbuckles to wave to the crowd then rushed to Gaballo to check on his condition in a gesture of respect and sportsmanship as the challenger sat on the canvas.
Donaire said when he bent over to console Gaballo, his only thought was to offer encouragement. “I told Reymart don’t be disappointed and whatever I can do to help, I’ll do it and you’ll be a champion someday,” said Donaire who revealed that during training camp, he lost a front tooth and had a second brush with COVID. The Filipino Flash said he burned COVID out of his system in three days then took eight tests that all turned out negative.
Donaire came in a -300 favorite while Gaballo was a +290 underdog and the action in the ring justified the odds. Gaballo showed a lot of heart in engaging Donaire but couldn’t withstand the champion’s power. Neither fighter had difficulty making the 118-pound limit. At the weigh-in last Friday, Donaire scaled 117.2 pounds and Gaballo, 117.
On the undercard, another Filipino Marlon Tapales was impressive, dropping Japanese Hiroaki Teshigawara twice in the first round and once in the second before referee Jack Reiss called a halt to the massacre. Tapales dropped Teshigawara with a brutal right hook to the head to end it at 0:06 of the second stanza. “Team Marlon worked for almost five months to be ready for this fight,” said Tapales’ veteran co-trainer (Sugar) Ting Ariosa. The win earned for Tapales a mandatory crack at the IBF superbantamweight belt worn by Murodjon Akhmadaliev of Uzbekistan.
At the Coca-Cola Arena in Dubai also on Saturday night but about 10 hours before Los Angeles time, the results weren’t as rosy for Filipinos Jayson Mama and Donnie Nietes. Mama lost to IBF flyweight champion Sunny Edwards on a unanimous 12-round decision in a foiled bid for the throne. Nietes settled for a split 10-round draw with Dominican Republic’s Norbelto Jimenez in a WBO superflyweight title eliminator.
Edwards suffered a nasty cut along his right hairline due to an accidental headbutt in the second round and for a while, looked unsteady with blood flowing from the wound. But the Englishman kept his cool, dictated the tempo with his jab and confused Mama by repeatedly switch-hitting. Edwards borrowed a page from Manny Pacquiao’s playbook by spinning around his opponent from close quarters then striking on the backfoot. Mama couldn’t put his punches together as Edwards proved to be an elusive target, sliding side-to-side to avoid taking more than one shot at a time. Judges Matteo Montella and Frank Johnson had it both 118-109 while the third judge scored it 117-110. The fight, however, was much closer than what the scorecard indicated. Edwards scored a knockdown in the 10th round but his overhand right appeared to hit an off-balanced Mama in the back of the head and shoulder.
Nietes, 39, staggered Jimenez at least thrice who was warned once for holding but got away with so much more. Nietes’ workrate dipped in the late rounds but he had enough cushion to deserve the verdict. There was confusion in the end as Jimenez thought the fight was for 12 rounds but it ended after 10. "'Di namin alam paano nila ginawang draw at 'di naman makatama si Jimenez," said Nietes' trainer Edmund Villamor.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Joaquin Henson.
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