I WAS wrong.
I underestimated Nonito Donaire?s abilities and capabilities, as well.
In radio interviews before the fight, I said he might knock out Fernando Montiel between the fifth and eighth rounds.
Wrong. Donaire did it in the second round.
Did I not say here previously the knockout might happen in a flash?
?I went for the body at the start,? Donaire said.
It didn?t work out? Montiel a tough nut to crack?
But the fight was only a round old.
Donaire impatient? Not really.
The body attack was a ploy. It was a ruse as beautiful as a rose.
In one round, Donaire?s strategy had paid off. In one round, Donaire wanted Montiel to believe he?d be continually attacked in the body.
What a strategy. It put to shame Mao Zedong?s Long March. General Patton?s war tactics became ROTC stuff.
In suddenly going head-hunting in the second round, Donaire turned from expert to genius.
Strategists in the Iraq War should learn a thing or two from Donaire.
Donaire had barely inflicted bodily harm on Montiel in the first round. Or so it seemed.
But look at this: In the first round, Donaire had successfully injected into Montiel?s mind that Donaire was all set to concentrate on body punches.
That opened doors to Donaire, somewhat forcing Montiel to lower his guard and making his head an open target.
Thus, the second round was not even two minutes old when wham came the killer blow! Montiel?s totally exposed jaw got hit dead center! In an instant, Montiel was down, grimacing in pain, eyes glazed.
Now I know why Donaire was called ?The Filipino Flash.?
A radar-like punch had been unleashed in a flash, courtesy of a left hook.
Montiel fell flat on his back, his face a picture of defeat. Montiel struggled to rise, but he could barely move.
When he finally rose, Montiel appeared lost. Never has he been humiliated in his boxing career.
The referee, seeing the futility of further resistance from Montiel, stopped the fight when Donaire was all set to deliver the finishing blows.
As king of 118-pounders in the WBC/WBO, Donaire, in picking up his 25th straight win in 27 fights since losing his second professional bout, appears invincible at this stage.
I am proud of him, as all Filipinos should.
And, yes, may he also win his fights off the ring?with a flourish, too, but not necessarily in a flash.
