If ever there was a punch to herald the arrival of a fistic superstar, this was it.
Those who witnessed Nonito Donaire crashing that left hook off the jaw of Mexican warlord Fernando Montiel in the second stanza of their recent Las Vegas battle will not forget it in a hurry.
It was a punch thrown with awe-inspiring accuracy and stupendous power. A punch that not only won Donaire the WBO and WBC bantamweight belts but also an army of new admirers worldwide.
‘The Filipino Flash’ promised us beforehand that he would win and do so in spectacular fashion and few could argue afterwards that he didn’t deliver in the grand manner.
Montiel, who was seen by many as Fighter of the Year for 2010 having been involved in four world-title fights and winning them all via stoppage, was left writhing on the canvas, legs twitching and eyes vacant.
That he managed to make it to his feet before the referee counted to 10 is testament to his Mexican cojones but he was in no fit state to continue and once Donaire followed up with a vicious two-handed salvo it really was all she wrote.
Donaire, of course, had turned this trick before when he stopped Vic Darchinyan with a similar left-handed bomb back in 2007 to become IBF flyweight champion.
But the stage was bigger here and the finish definitely more impressive.
At 28 he is now a fighter with the world at his feet. There is not enough on his current resume for him to be compared to Philippines compatriot and ‘pound-for-pound’ top dog Manny Pacquiao just yet, but his potential is frightening.
After tasting defeat over five rounds in just his second fight in 2001, Donaire has been on a steep upward curve ever since.
The most impressive thing about him is not just that he keeps winning, but that he seems to be so superior to his world rivals.
Before Montiel, Donaire looked scarily good against former Olympian and WBA champion Volodymyr Sydorenko, scoring knockdowns in rounds one and three before seemingly getting tired of the spectacle and closing the show in round four.
At 5ft 6in there is definitely potential for him to move through the weights and he spoke afterwards of eventually going up to featherweight to try to tame fellow ‘pound-for-pound’ stars Yuriorkis Gamboa and Juan Manuel Lopez.
If he were to manage that then who knows, one day we might be talking about him in the same breath as his friend and compatriot Pacquiao.
For now the Philippines, a nation truly in love with the sweet science, can be proud of the fact that they have two boxing superstars to worship.
Elsewhere on the ‘pound-for-pound’ beat, Timothy Bradley backed up his boast to being the pre-eminent light-welterweight in the world today as he scored a 10th-round technical decision win over American rival Devon Alexander.
The fight had been hugely anticipated as it had been some years since two unbeaten American world champions had last squared off. In the event it didn’t live up to expectations in Michigan and truth be known it was a dour, foul-filled affair.
However, Bradley won’t be complaining. He retains his ‘0’ and word is his team are now in talks with Amir Khan about a possible unification showdown for later on this year.
That would be a great fight were it to happen but if recent boxing history has told us anything it’s that fans and scribes should not get overly excited about the best facing the best until they are gloved up and listening to the referee’s instructions.
Sportinglife.com pound-for-pound world top 10:
1 Manny Pacquiao
2 Floyd Mayweather
3 Juan Manuel Marquez
4 Nonito Donaire
5 Bernard Hopkins
6 Miguel Cotto
7 Sergio Martinez
8 Shane Mosley
9 Yuriorkis Gamboa
10 Juan Manuel Lopez
Honourable mentions: Andre Ward, Paul Williams, Timothy Bradley, Wladimir Klitschko and Amir Khan.
