The night of February 19th, 2011 was a very humbling one for proud warrior Fernando ‘Cochulito’ Montiel. Looking to defend his WBC and WBO bantamweight titles against energetic Nonito Donaire inside of the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, Montiel was subsequently overwhelmed by his younger foe’s speed and power before being dropped with a wicked left hook in round two and stopped along the ropes after rising moments later.
The loss, by far the most crippling of the 32-year old Montiel’s’ career, was bad enough where many questioned what his next move would be and he could have been forgiven for taking some time off after an extremely busy 2010 campaign. However, a break wasn’t in the Los Mochis native’s plans as Montiel would return to action this past weekend in Sinaloa, Mexico by facing off with former title challenger Nehomar Cermeno.
<--- Slideshow: Fernando Montiel returns with victory over Cermeno And while the fight ended in strange circumstances the record books will forever show Montiel getting back in the winning column by way of 3rd round TKO over the Venezuelan. After a slow first round Montiel would began connecting with counter left hooks in the second and made an impression with some body shots in the waning seconds that would eventually drop Cermeno at the stanza's closing.
At the start of the third round something odd happened as referee Olegario Madueno gave Cermeno, who was standing in his corner, a standing ten count before waiving off the fight. Just like that Montiel had placed himself back in the winner’s circle and his aspirations as still very high. Advertisement
“I was very nervous about the fight, because I knew that if I lose for a second time [in a row] it would be a lot harder to get myself up from the floor. I knew that I had to have a clear victory and I’m very happy with the way things went. I caught him with a good hook to the liver and it was the type of shot where he would have never recovered from in the fight. I’m hoping to get a shot at another world championship and then I want to get a rematch with Donaire,” Montiel stated in a BoxingScene.com piece by Miguel Rivera.
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While it’s noble for Montiel to want a crack at Donaire, there wouldn’t be too many people clamoring for a rematch because of the one-sided nature of the first fight. Logic says that a fight with newly-crowned WBO junior featherweight champion Jorge Arce is the fight that makes the most sense at this point.
Last month Arce jumpstarted his career with a wild come-from-behind stoppage over Puerto Rico’s Wilfredo Vazquez Jr. inside of the MGM Grand and he and Montiel could mean fireworks if matched together.
Chris Robinson is based out of Las Vegas, Nevada. He can be reached at [email protected]
