LAST Sunday, the quiescent mood pervading at my house was interrupted by wolf-like howling noises. The wifey shot me an incredulous look just as I emitted more guttural blare.
Yup, I howled like a madman after Nonito Donaire Jr. landed that monster left hook on Fernando Montiel in the second round.
RELAXED. Coming into the fight, I thought Montiel appeared too relaxed and uninspired. Almost as if he was disinterested.
Did he take Donaire Jr. lightly?
In the first round, Donaire Jr. immediately started stalking and pot-shoting the shorter Montiel, who is traditionally a slow starter.
In between, there was a lot of feinting and posturing as both protagonists seemed to size each other up.
Montiel got a taste of that big left hook after Donaire Jr. smacked him just as he unloaded a right hand. However, ?Cochulito? made a show of how the blow did not seem to affect him at all.
Donaire Jr. clearly won the round as he was able to initially establish himself as the fighter with the faster hands.
BRUTAL. Montiel seemed to come alive in the second round, as he began to let his hands go, but Donaire Jr. was always a step and a blow ahead.
To his credit, Montiel did seem to land a couple of right hands over the outstretched jab of Donaire, but he couldn?t follow it up with anything substantial.
At around the two-minute mark, Donaire landed a booming right hand which snapped Montiel?s head back. Again, he showed some bravado by gesturing that he wasn?t hurt.
Then it happened.
Montiel fired a right hand which missed its mark. In a flash, Donaire uncorked a brutal left hook which bludgeoned the right side of Montiel?s head.
The torque behind the blow caused his neck to tilt violently, then his knees started to buckle and fold under him.
As the ref began to count, Montiel was writhing on the canvas in numb agony, furiously willing his un-obeying body to shrug off the effects of that brutal blow.
Amazingly, he got up at the count of eight but Donaire pounced on him and landed two undefended blows before the referee thankfully waived it off.
HATTONIZED. This early, we have a strong candidate for knockout- of- the- year honors.
Just when we thought Nonito would be hard pressed to repeat that award-winning knockout of Vic Darchinyan in 2007, he tops it with a ? Pacquiaoesque? performance.
Yes guys, Montiel got Hattonized.
MELLIGEN. Mark Jason Melligen gave a good account of himself in winning a wide, unanimous decision over another equally talented prospect in Gabriel Martinez.
Melligen was aggressive from the inception and he used his faster hands to full advantage. So much so that I thought he was too complacent in defense in the first few rounds.
He seemed Darchinyan-like when he kept his hands low, stalked Martinez, and seemed obsessed with landing his monstrous left.
Though he won the first few rounds, he also got countered several times, and so by the middle rounds, he thankfully began to box more as he settled into a rhythm and began patiently landing body shots.
He hurt his opponent several times in the fight, but Martinez?s conditioning allowed him to be competitive.
Melligen appears to possess numerous qualities to become a big star in pro boxing, provided he keeps winning, of course. He has fast hands, seems to take a punch well, and is quite fearless.
He might have to shore up on the defense department and he often lunges with his head coming in which makes him available for the quick counter.
LAST ROUNDS. Are on two dear friends, Atty. Oscar Tan Jr. and Ruel ?Wengweng? Binolirao, who are celebrating their birthdays this week. Cheers!
