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Philippines, 31 Jan 2026 |
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DONAIRE DESTROYS VARGAS, RP IN 2-2 STANDOFF WITH LATINOS By Ronnie Nathanielsz PhilBoxing.com Sun, 14 Feb 2010  LAS VEGAS, FEB. 13 - Nonito “The Filipino Flash” Donaire salvaged a 2-2 standoff between the Philippines and their Latino rivals in the “Pinoy Power III/Latin Fury 13” fight card when he destroyed Mexico’s Manuel “Chango” Vargas in the final bout of the evening at the famous Hilton Hotel and Casino here in Las Vegas, Saturday. Together with a crucial victory by world rated featherweight Bernabe “The Real Deal” Concepcion over tough Puerto Rican Mario Santiago in a ten round bout, the Filipinos overcame the split decision loss of veteran Gerry Penalosa to another former champion Eric Morel of Puerto Rico and the first round annihilation of a terribly overmatched Ciso “Kid Terrible”Morales who was knocked out in 2:06 of the very first round by WBO bantamweight champion Fernando “Cochulito” Montiel. In the non pay-per-view telecast of the Top Rank fight card which was carried in the Philippines by the giant broadcast network ABS-CBN, welterweight Mark Jason Melligen recovered from a disappointing split decision loss in his last fight to Michel Rosales with a smashing 6th round TKO over previously undefeated Raymond Gatica of Austin, Texas. Donaire showed too much class for Vargas, a late replacement for Gerson Guerrero who had to be pulled out after he was found to have a tear in the retina of his right eye at Wednesday’s medical examination. Although Vargas who is known to move up from minimum weight to fight as a flyweight or a super flyweight had been in training for a fight in Mexico today, he was no match for Donaire who combined speed, power and ring savvy to demolish the little Mexican who had previously dropped a twelve round split decision in a WBO minimum weight title fight to the Philippines Donnie Nietes last September 12 in Mexico. At the end of the second round a somewhat tense Donaire loosened up as trainer Robert Garcia told him “get him apart little by little.” In a post fight interview Donaire told us that Vargas’s style was different from Guerrero whom he had prepared for so he was “just being cautious.” He said “I felt stiff in the first two rounds but I wanted to knock him out” and the chance came in round three. Donaire conceded that Vargas caught him a couple of times with a roundhouse bolo punch which was “strong” and that one punch which hit him on the buttocks “still hurts. He hits hard.” With the win Donaire improves to 23-1 with 15 knockouts but gave every indication that he wants to move up in weight and possibly face WBO bantamweight champion Fernando Montiel although Eric Morel with his win over Penalosa has priority. Donaire said that if the camp of Vic Darchinyan continues to insult him and play games “I don’t to fight him because there’s Montiel and his showing was great.” After an initial exchange, Montiel caught Morales with a right to the side of the head and a solid blow to the mid-section which saw Morales double-up in pain and crash to the canvas as referee Robert Byrd counted him out at 2:06 of the opening round. The consensus was that Morales had no business being in the same ring with the veteran Montiel especially after he had to shed off some 12 pounds within the past week to make the 118 pound limit. Even “Fighter of the Decade” and pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao who flew in from Los Angeles with wife Jinkee on a specially chartered flight to provide moral support to the Filipino fighters said reducing to make weight is not good and he is the best example of being comfortable while moving up in weight. Pacquiao who sat next to Bob Arum received an ovation when he entered the stadium and was whisked away from one TV panel to another. Also sharing the spotlight on the sidelines was Z “The Dream” Gorres who watched the fights from a special ringside seat along with his wife Datches and Dr. Ben Calderon who will accompany them on their return to Cebu on Sunday. In a brief address to the fans prior to the main event, Pacquiao said his foundation was raising funds to help Gorres and his family recover from the tragedy that ended his promising boxing career. Pacquiao and trainer Freddie Roach were both disappointed over Penalosa’s loss claiming that they figured he won seven rounds to five. When the decision was announced Penalosa stood in the ring in disbelief. Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.  |
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