Philippine boxing showed it has more than just Manny Pacquiao.
In a day of stirring victories, two Filipinos retained their world boxing championships yesterday in different venues and separate time zones. And in an echo of Pacquiao?s memorable wins, the victims were Mexican challengers.
Nonito Donaire stopped Luis Maldonado in the eighth round Saturday in Connecticut to keep International Boxing Federation flyweight crown while Rey “Boom Boom” Bautista won a hard-fought unanimous 12-round decision over Antonio Meza to retain his World Boxing Organization (WBO) Intercontinental super-bantamweight title at the Araneta Coliseum.
Donaire, nicknamed the “Filipino Flash,” pounded challenger Maldonado throughout the bout, ending matters 76 seconds into the eighth round with a powerful left hand in his first title defense.
“I guess my validation was today but I didn?t feel my best,” Donaire said. “I felt sluggish. I didn?t have my legs. I don?t know what the problem was. I couldn?t move well so I tried to rely on my upper body movement.”
Donaire, who claimed the crown from Armenian Vic Darchinyan in July, improved to 19-1 with his 12th early stoppage for his 18th triumph in a row despite hurting his left hand early in the fight.
“I?ve always had that problem but it?s OK. I still got the victory,” he said. “I?m happy for my country. We have four world champions now.”
Maldonado fell to 37-2 with one drawn after being knocked down for only the second time in his pro career.
“He wasn?t awkward but he was a lot defensive. I couldn?t get through,” said Donaire. “I knew he was a tough fighter. I respect him. I hit him with a good uppercut right on the button and he came back. He gave me a hell of a fight.”
Donaire opened a cut over Maldonado?s left eye in the second round and another over the right eye in the fourth, hammering the gutsy and bloodied challenger throughout the first half of the fight.
In the seventh round, Donaire landed a stunning uppercut followed by a powerful left hook that dropped Maldonado to his knees, his only taste of the canvas other than when Darchinyan sent him down 18 months ago.
The Mexican then fell onto the canvas but rose at the count of eight to greet the bell ending the round.
But it was only a delay of his fate. Donaire pressed the attack early in the eighth, pounding the Mexican with a barrage in a corner and finishing with a powerful left that prompted referee Charlie Dwyer to halt the fight.
Bautista, meanwhile, almost paid dearly for not being able to scout his Mexican foe on tape but he still had enough ammo to punch his way to a unanimous 12-round decision win.
Meza proved to be a tough nut to crack for Bautista, a crowd darling making his debut in Manila, as he could not put away Meza, a gutsy and ironchinned customer who also had his moments before all three judges saw it in favor of the hometown bet, 117-111, 116112 and 118-110.
The Bohol-born, Cebu-based Bautista had his best rounds in the fourth and ninth when he rocked Meza with power shots to the head and body.
“I never knew exactly what his style was and he had already gained an advantage since he had seen me fight many times in the States,” said Bautista.
Bautista?s chief handler Michael Aldeguer said he wasn?t able to “retrieve”not even one copy of Meza?s fight.
“It turned out that he had a difficult style since he can switch from being southpaw to being a rightie,” said Aldeguer, whose father Tony runs the famed ALA Boxing Club in Cebu.
“It was tough to get one (videotape) and we even checked out at youtube but we just could not find one,” said Aldeguer.
Still, Bautista expressed satisfaction with his performance and is aching to return to duty at the soonest possible time.
“I was not rushing things and I am even surprised that I was able to control myself unlike in my fight with (Daniel) Ponce De Leon (last August),” said Bautista, who suffered a firstround knockout loss in a heartbreaking attempt at the WBO 122-lb crown.
“I thought I was superman when I fought Ponce De Leon. I was not in my usual self when I fought him although I admit that he really got me that time but I would like to fight him again,” said Bautista, who was impressed by Meza?s ability to withstand his best shots.
There were no knockdowns in the 12-rounder but Bautista and Meza engaged in countless toeto-toe exchanges that had the crowd on its feet a few times.
While he admits to having lost the fight, Meza said he was not that impressed by Bautista.
“I have fought better fighters but he?s still good,” said Meza, who sported a cut on his right eyebrow that was caused by a clash of heads in the early rounds.
A show-stealer was super-fly AJ Banal, who scored an explosive ninth-round knockout of Mexican Jovanny Soto.
For eight rounds, Banal?s punches bounced off Soto?s head and the crowd thought the fight will go the full ten rounds until the Filipino landed a right hook to the chin that dropped his game rival.
Soto barely beat the count but a flurry by Banal, a lefty, prompted referee Ferdie Estrella to step in.
“It was a perfect punch,” said Banal, who will turn 19 on Dec. 28.
Later, Soto said the bout was stopped prematurely although it was evident that he was in the losing end when Estrella intervened.
Banal thus boosted his win-loss-draw card to 16-0-1 with 13 wins inside the distance, while the setback saw Soto?s ledger drop to 25-8. The victory raised Bautista?s record to 24-1 with 17 knockouts, while the defeat dropped Meza?s slate to 23-4 with 16 stoppages. – With reports from Reuters
