Chavez Jr’s Loss was Donaire’s Big Win

Chavez Jr’s Loss was Donaire’s Big Win

By Ashley Thorpe (Dec 7, 2010) Doghouse Boxing (Photo © German Villasenor, DHB)
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Better late than never the old adage goes but you have to wonder whether Nonito Donaire, who moved to 25-1 (17) with an emphatic bantamweight debut over former champion Wladimir Sidorenko, 22-3-2 (7), still hurts over those lost years. Next February’s highly anticipated bout against Fernando Montiel, who earlier in April relieved long reigning champ Hazumi Hasegawa of his WBC title to add to his WBO strap, is a super-fight that Donaire has craved ever since his breakout performance against Vic Darchinyan all of three years ago. For a fighter with the potential Donaire has, three years is a long time to spend in the wilderness.

Despite Donaire coming in as an underdog, a highlight reel counter left-hook knocked Darchinyan out in the fifth round of their fateful encounter. Despite the Armenian losing the fight he has picked himself up, brushed himself down and moved on to greater things. Donaire’s handlers have not capitalised on his incredible upset win and, although he has infiltrated many pound-for-pound lists over the years, he has not been given the big fights which could have already made him a superstar. But, this weekend, when headlining fight Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. vs. Pawel Wolak (initially vs. Alfonso Gomez) fell through, another opportunity for Donaire to step out of the shadows came – he delivered, and then some. Finally, getting the headlining fight his talent deserved in front of a larger audience, he gave the sensational display he needed to get people talking and anticipating.

Siderenko had lost twice in close decisions to the man who took his title, WBA champion Anselmo Moreno, but had never been stopped or dominated in the way that Donaire, moving up from super-flyweight, dominated. Donaire showed why many have held him in such high esteem to break the pound-for-pound ranks despite not facing enough notable opponents. He has a fantastic boxing brain, is patient picking his shots and knows how to use his attributes to full effect. At 5 ft 7 Donaire is taller and has a longer reach than many opponents in the lower divisions. His jab proved to be his best weapon on Saturday night and he seemed to land it at will. This added to his tremendous footwork and knockout power in both hands proved far too much for the Ukrainian, who was dropped in rounds one and three and knocked out at 1:48 of the fourth.

In Montiel, who appears to be in the form of his life having knocked out his last three opponents in style, Donaire may find his toughest test yet. This type of challenge, of course, is not just what he wants but what the fight fans want too. It has been a long time since HBO has bought a headlining fight from the lower divisions, and how fitting that the fight should take place on the 11th anniversary of a classic super-bantamweight match-up: the first meeting between Marco Antonio Barrera and Eric Morales. The initial headline fight may have fallen through this weekend, but the fight we really cared about became the attraction and the fighter that we’ll all be talking about is the Filipino Flash. Undoubtedly, it’s proved to be that Chavez Jr’s loss was certainly Donaire’s big win. Bring on February 19.

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