Nonito Donaire stopped Hernan ?Tyson? Marquez in the eighth round with a spectacular left uppercut Saturday, but the Filipino Flash wouldn?t have won any votes as the evening?s most spectacular left-hander.
That?s largely because lefty Juan Manuel Marquez won the main event in Puerto Rico on Showtime by knocking Bernabe Concepcion down three times en route to a second-round TKO. With Marquez also going down once, the featherweight bout was a wowser compared to Donaire?s farewell flyweight bout.
Donaire (24-1, 16 knockouts) might have been more spectacular had he not fought most of the bout as a southpaw. He?s a more powerful puncher left-handed, and he feels the left-handed stance will make him a more effective knockout artist from that side.
That?s a nice weapon for his arsenal, just as fighting inside for 12 rounds proved to be a nice weapon in Andre Ward?s arsenal against Allan Green three weeks ago. But that doesn?t mean Ward should turn into Gene Fullmer or John Ruiz henceforth.
There will be opponents against whom the lefty assassin stance will be Donaire?s best bet, and there will be others, like Saturday?s victim Marquez, who will continue to be humiliated by the right-handed version of Donaire.
Nonito fought lefty for four rounds Saturday and landed several huge power shots as he tried to load up. But he also seemed far more hittable than usual. Although the much shorter Marquez could not get inside to dominate the fight, he landed nearly two-thirds as frequently as Donaire from outside and probably won a round or two.
?I took some beating,? Donaire conceded, ?but I needed that.?
The magic returned immediately when Donaire went righty in the fifth round. He feinted, he countered, he landed lead rights, he ducked, and soon he floored Marquez with a counter left hook. Later in the fifth a staggered Marquez was hanging onto Donaire?s knees to avoid a second knockdown call.
?I knew I could get him out right away if I turned righty,? Donaire acknowledged, conceding that there was a practice asset to this fight.
Donaire fought left-handed about one-third of the time thereafter, and continued to seek the one-punch knockout. When it came, it was a hook from the orthodox stance, and it was a beauty.
He has often fought left-handed, but the notion of doing so permanently has mostly been a matter of preserving his fragile left pinkie, which Donaire says is more likely to be damaged by jabbing than by power punches.
That?s good reason to keep working on it, but let?s hope it doesn?t supplant the orthodox stance as his No. 1 modus operandi. He kept referring to it as ?my new style,? but if he abandons his old style significantly it will be cause for consternation and maybe even mourning.
