IT?S supposed to be a time-tested strategy. After a world champion suffers his first devastating loss, he is usually matched against a ?soft? opponent in his first comeback fight. One who will make him look great and restore his confidence.
Apparently, former IBF flyweight champion Vic ?Raging Bull? Darchinyan (28-1 22KOS), subscribes to that tenet, and for his comeback fight today after suffering a devastating knockout loss at the hands of Nonito Donaire, the supposed sacrificial lamb is our very own Federico Catubay, who sports a record of 20 wins, 13 losses and 11 KOs to his name.
There?s no lack of precedents here either.
After Bernard Hopkins exposed Felix Trinidad in 11 rounds, this Puerto Rican legend took his sweet time in getting back on track by first taking on the aging Hassine Cheriffi and disposing of him in four one-sided rounds.
Shocked by his first professional loss to Oliver McCall (TKO in 2), Lennox Lewis who refers to himself as ?The Lion? opted to partake of a light snack first against Lionel Butler who had a record of 22 wins and 10 losses.
And so on and so forth. The list is endless.
THE JONES EXPERIENCE. However, in this imperfect world, sometimes things do not always work out as planned.
After Roy Jones suffered his first knockout loss to Antonio Tarver, he was carefully matched against Glen Johnson, a journeyman fighter that Jones was supposed to handle with ease. Unfortunately for Roy, Glen Johnson forgot his role and proceeded to score a knockout of his own.
In such a case, when the favorite fails to exploit the opportunity and falls to a relative unknown, the second loss hurts more than the first and sometimes the favorite is never the same fighter again.
CONFIDENT. Federico Catubay is practically an unknown commodity. This Labason, Zamboanga del Norte native sports a record that is far from impressive. He has lost several times by knockout.
However, Catubay is no pushover. There?s a factor that Darchinyan?s team failed to consider. Catubay was one of the principal sparring partners of newly crowned WBO minimum weight ruler Donnie ?Ahas? Nietes in his title-winning bid last month.
Donnie confided to me that Catubay is as ready as can be, having sparred not only against him, but also against the likes of Along Denoy and ?Flash? Intor. According to the champ, Catubay has to knock out Darchinyan in order to win, but is quite confident that Catubay has what it takes to do the job.
FLAWED PUNCHER. During the impromptu post fight celebration for Nietes, I had the chance to talk to Federico. Pumped up over his sparring mate?s historic feat, he confidently told us that he was raring to go toe-to-toe with Darchinyan and that he didn?t care much about Darchinyan?s knockout prowess.
That statement gives me a reason to worry.
Nonito Donaire didn?t beat Darchinyan by mindlessly trading with him. The latter, for all his vaunted power, is a flawed puncher. He doesn?t move side to side and keeps his hands quite low. He relies so much on his power that he ignores the basics,
In that fateful moment against Darchinyan, Donaire timed Darchinyan?s rush with a counter left hook just as the former dropped his right hand while trying to land his left straight. It was only a single punch, but it was a punch that Nonito had landed repeatedly over the course of the fight.
Nonito Donaire isn?t a one-punch knockout wonder. He?s a smart fighter who knows how to capitalize on his opponent?s carelessness. This is what Federico should bear in mind.
JAB OF THE DAY. ?Trainers hate making predictions, but I think Vic will end things by the fifth round. Having said that, he?s prepared to fight 12 solid rounds? -Billy Hussein, trainer of Vic Darchinyan
LAST ROUND. It?s on my buddy, Atty. Alan F. Siu, who celebrates his birthday today, surrounded by the love and warmth of wife Leizel and Ethan Victor who joins the Christian world today. Cheers!
