LIKE I said, I was squeamish about the revenge angle being overplayed, but if you set that aside and take in the fight on a purely atavistic level, you have to marvel at the scintillating display of power that Michael Domingo unleashed last Sunday.
You don?t see that very often- a well-placed left hook to the liver bringing paralyzing pain to an opponent that he succumbs to the 10-count.
PRECEDENTS. Gerry Pe?alosa did it to Mexican Johnny Gonzales during the World Cup of boxing back in 2007. The crafty southpaw deftly evaded Gonzales? right cross, and swiftly planted a short, brutal shot to the liver.
It took a few seconds for the pain to register and when it did, Gonzales knelt down a few feet away, numbed and nullified.
Ricky Hatton did it too. The first few rounds with Jose Luis Castillo were competitive, but sometimes a small window of opportunity is all it takes.
?The Hitman? sidestepped to his left and saw a vulnerable spot on Castillo to deliver a wicked body shot to the liver.
A split second later, Castillo was clutching the right side of his abdomen and was counted out unceremoniously.
Old-school master Bernard Hopkins also did it to his business partner Oscar de la Hoya. The fight was competitive up to that point and Oscar was actually ahead on one scorecard.
But Hopkin?s savvy trainer Bouie Fisher prodded the former to step it up and he did, magnificently. A well-timed left hook left Oscar with some chopped liver drizzled with Hopkins sauce, as the ?Executioner? would later refer to it.
TIMID? Is it just me, or did Melendez look unusually timid in there? He looked lethargic and uninterested in the first round, and even when Domingo started landing those crisp right hands, Melendez seemed content to play defense and did not let his hands go.
Not to take away anything from the extremely likeable Domingo, but Melendez looked to be affected by the emotional burden of having caused Z Gorres? premature retirement, and having the latter watch the fight at ringside.
Of course, that is not to say that the outcome would have been any different, but most of us at ringside sincerely expected much more from the crafty Melendez based on his tussle with the more accomplished Gorres.
JACA. The tone of the fight was invariably set with the first solid punch that Jimrex landed- a hard right hook that landed smack on the left side of James Kimori?s face.
The Kenyan wobbled a bit from the impact and his face looked more stunned than hurt, but it was probably at that very moment wherein he realized he was way in over his head.
A difference in class almost always manifests itself in the first few rounds, in this particular case, the assembled throng came to that conclusion in the very first minute of the fight.
What?s next for Jimrex? At 26 years of age, he?s no spring chicken but he?s not exactly a world beater either.
He acquitted himself quite well in that loss to Juan Manuel Marquez and he needs to get back to that level of fitness and confidence.
VASQUEZ-MARQUEZ IV. I got the victor correctly, but I never expected Marquez to dispatch of Vasquez in 3 short rounds.
On hindsight, the cut-prone Vasquez has a lot of mileage in the ring odometer and the fact that he cuts too easily proved to be the telling factor in the fourth installment.
Marquez was brutally accurate early in the fight and wasted no time unleashing those slashing combinations.
My heart goes out to the gallant warrior Vasquez who has had a magnificent career, but I think it is indeed time for ?Magnifico? to hang up the gloves.
LAST ROUND. It?s on my sweet-shooting fellow SAC member who recently celebrated his birthday, Karlon Rama. Cheers!
