Contrast the two featured fights on Top Rank?s TruTV show from Puerto Rico Friday night and you?ll see the difference between what should be and what used to be.
Felix Verdejo, matched against an absolute no-hoper in Josenilson Dos Santos, took one round to size up the situation and let his fans get a look at him. Then, he put things away with a blazing shot in the second round because, well, that?s what you do with no-hopers when your career is on track.
Nonito Donaire, on the other hand, showed what can happen when facing no-hopers while your career is NOT on track.
And make no mistake about it, Donaire?s opponent Friday night, Cesar Juarez, should?ve been a no-hoper. Even though the WBO somehow managed to make the bout for the vacant WBO junior featherweight title, Juarez had no business being in the ring with Donaire, much less being in a life and death 12-round battle with the former superstar.
Juarez, who is a straight-up club fighter with a club fighter?s skill set and mindset, was neatly packaged for a Donaire decapitation. With his best wins coming via unconvincing decision against a blown up ?Zurdito? Sanchez fighting two divisions above his comfort zone and the well-traveled Cesar Seda, the 24-year-old pug from Mexico City?who was fighting in a converted basketball court in Los Mochis just five months ago– was placed on a silver platter before a ?rejuvenated? Filipino Flash.
Donaire showed brief flashes (no pun intended) of his former self, but he could never put it all together and he let a fighter, whose only asset was being a tenacious and brave 24-year-old, turn an intended virtuoso solo into a melee in the orchestra pit.
Excited fans were quick to label this as the Fight of the Year, but it was way too sloppy to belong in the same Gatti-Ward, Corrales-Castillo category. And despite making Donaire bleed over the right eye and swell up around the left, Juarez had trouble landing anything of note during the bout. What we saw was mostly Juarez bull-rushing Donaire and Donaire falling into survival mode after attempts to land that one perfect KO punch failed to deliver the desired result.
Donaire would win a fair decision of 117-109 and 116-110 (twice), but this contest had no business going on beyond the fourth round, where Donaire dropped the plucky Mexican twice. The fact that Juarez survived Donaire?s early assault and turned it into a life and death battle by the later rounds speaks to where Donaire is in his career.
To put it frankly, Nonito Donaire is done. If Cesar Juarez is the high water mark for the former four division world champ (and new WBO junior featherweight titlist), then he?ll be safe against nobody in the top 20. At 33 years of age, he?s still got fast hands and decent reflexes, but his ring focus is gone and his heart just doesn?t seem to be in it anymore. It?s time to hang up the gloves before somebody beats him into retirement.
