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Philippines, 11 Mar 2026 |
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DONAIRE TITLE DEFENSE MOVED TO CEBU SPORTS COMPLEX By Ronnie Nathanielsz PhilBoxing.com Fri, 26 Feb 2016  The first title defense of super bantamweight champion Nonito "The Filipino Flash" Donaire following his title victory the second time around has been moved to the Cebu City Sports Complex from the Smart Araneta Coliseum with the April 23rd showdown creating an immediate buzz in the Philippines hotbed of boxing. ALA Promotions president Michael Aldeguer told us of the change of venue which was spiced up by the news that Top Rank promoter Bob Arum would attend the fight which is a joint promotion between Top Rank, ALA Promotions and the giant broadcast network ABS-CBN. Fight fans remember that flyweight Z "The Dream" Gorres lost a somewhat controversial split decision to Mexican world champion Fernando Montiel before a crowd of 25,000 including eight division world champion Manny Pacquiao on February 24, 2007. Referee Samuel Viruet came under fire after he deducted a point once in round ten and once more in round twelve from Gorres for holding. Donaire who grew up during his childhood years in nearby Bohol is expected to enjoy fighting before Cebuano fans and will be at home because he speaks Cebuano fluently and also sings Visayan songs. Nonito Donaire regained his popularity among Filipino boxing fans after he scored a lopsided twelve round decision over Mexico's surprisingly tough Cesar Juarez whom he dropped twice in the fourth round before weathering a comeback by Juarez in the second half of the bout which was marked by several brutal exchanges. Donaire told us recently that he wants fight fans to see his potential when he defends his title against Zsolt Bedak, the former Hungarian Olympian who is currently ranked No. 4 in the world and the transfer of the fight to Cebu is expected to be additional motivation for Donaire. Talking about his title challenger Bedak, Donaire said the Hungarian ?is an overall fighter. He?s got speed and pretty decent power if he wants to but he?s more of a technical fighter than anything. They want to beat you by points but we won?t allow this. We know what we have to do.? Donaire said he?s been studying Bedak?s fights for a few days now and indicated ?he?s a tough guy, a capable guy but we have faith that with my Dad (who is also Nonito?s trainer) we?ll come up with the best game-plan.? When discussing his lethal left hook and his overall advantage in power, Donaire quickly conceded ?power is sometimes not enough to beat a guy who moves around. It?s a matter of having the best, most intelligent game-plan and when we follow the game-plan we can beat anybody.? Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.  |
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