BY now, it has become clear as day: Nonito Donaire Jr. was fighting wounded.
That was last Sunday, when The Filipino Flash was battling Wilfredo Vazquez Jr. at the famed Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.
It happened between the second and fourth rounds, according to Donaire.
If he couldn?t remember the exact round when the injury came, that?s almost a given.
Boxers are so almost immune to pain that they usually pay no attention to it when it comes attacking.
In fact, in most times, the more pain a boxer absorbs?whether inflicted by his foe?the more he becomes fierce, vicious even.
Boxers are like China?s Red Guards, if not America?s Green Berets: They eat pain for breakfast.
Most probably, the ignore-the-pain syndrome was the reason Donaire couldn?t pinpoint the exact round when his left hand got hurt, fractured.
He was so absorbed in his aim to finish Vazquez early in the fight, in the process effectively numbing the pain brought on by the injury.
My own guess is, it could be in either Round 2 or Round 3. In Round 2, Donaire started to be aggressive, connecting with some solid, thundering shots to the head.
In that round, Vazquez even taunted Donaire to hit him more?proof that he is of sterner stuff.
In Round 3, Donaire resumed his knockout bid and poured on the heat.
If, in said round, Donaire unleashed 20 or so machine-gun shots on Vazquez while the Puerto Rican was pinned on the ropes, I can believe that.
Suddenly, while watching Donaire do his thing, Fernando Poe Jr., the late, legendary actor came to mind once again.
The two-fisted attack Donaire administered on Vazquez in Round 3 was typically FPJ. Left hook. Overhead right. Left uppercut. Right straight. One-two combos. A staccato of shots. Name it, it was there.
When FPJ did that in the movies, expect his prey to crumble to the ground?a pitiful knockout victim.
I honestly believed on Sunday that Vazquez would also go down under the weight of Donaire?s continuous bombardment in the third round.
It looked chillingly real to me like Vazquez was dead meat?only to see him cut loose from his would-be executioner and scamper away from the slaughterhouse.
But to his credit, Vazquez withstood the onslaught.
Donaire continued his assault in Round 4, with Vazquez just content with covering his face with both his hands.
Then, after dominating the first four rounds, Donaire slowed down beginning in Round 5.
It was clearly evident he was now feeling the pain in his injured left hand.
Maybe, Donaire takes the famous Chinese dictum to heart: ?Retreat, rest in the night, and resume fighting at the break of dawn??
Practically, Donaire rested in Rounds 5, 6 and 7?the only rounds that I had given Vazquez in the 12-round bout won by Donaire by split decision.
Ah, that split decision verdict again.
It happened after judge Ruben Garcia (is he Puerto Rican like Vazquez?) scored it 115-112 for Vazquez.
That result was way off the identical 117-112 scores of judges Levi Martinez and Don Trella in favor of Donaire.
It tallied with my own 117-112 score since?if only to state the obvious?Donaire clearly won nine rounds to Vazquez?s three.
Frankly, had Donaire not been injured, he would have easily nabbed his 19th knockout win in pocketing his fourth world title?the WBO world super bantamweight crown (122 lbs). So talented is Donaire, 29, that Vazquez, 27, is simply no match.
Vazquez took his second defeat for a 21-2-1 mark, absorbing his first loss last year via 12th-round TKO to Jorge Arceo to lose the world 122-lb diadem.
On Sunday Vazquez was felled in the ninth round and was just lucky to escape a second-straight defeat by stoppage only because Donaire was injured.
We all saw on TV after the fight on what happened to Donaire?s left hand: Bloodied fist with blisters, so bizarrely and badly swollen that surgery is a must.
?I was in agony,? Donaire would later say. ?The pain was killing me.?
Thus, in victory, Donaire stood proud, improving to 22 wins against a lone defeat and one draw, and maintaining his unbeaten streak in 11 years. If Pacquiao is congressman of Sarangani, then Donaire too is ripe for congressman in GenSan?
Maybe.
A friend of mine asked me: ?The one who taped Donaire?s hands might have bungled his job? The tapes loosened up, you know.?
Maybe.
But it could also be that Vazquez?s body, if not his face, is made of granite?
Maybe.
