The last image of Nonito Donaire in a boxing ring is indelible: raising his gloves skyward after what will almost assuredly be 2011’s “Knockout of the Year.”
A Donaire left hook from hell flattened pound-for-pound entrant Fernando Montiel last Feb. 19, elevating the profile of the “Filipino Flash” from talented world champion to emerging superstar. Boxing fans salivated over potential mouth-watering matchups against the likes of Abner Mares, Joseph Agbeko and Yuriorkis Gamboa.
But that was eight months ago, and, while the world hasn’t exactly forgotten about Donaire — widely regarded as one of the top five pound-for-pound fighters in boxing — it sure slowed down the Nonito Express. If he ever hopes to reach a box office plateau that even approaches countryman Manny Pacquiao, the 28-year-old better get busy.
Donaire attempts to do that when he defends his WBC and WBO bantamweight titles against undefeated Argentine Omar Narvaez at Madison Square Garden in New York (8:30 p.m. today, HBO).
On a roll
Hard to believe it’s been more than four years since Donaire, 26-1 (18 knockouts), shocked Vic Darchinyan for one of his two world titles. Similar to the Montiel knockout, a vicious Donaire left caught the onrushing Darchinyan on the sweet spot in the fifth round of what had been a competitive fight.
Like Montiel, Darchinyan fielded the devastating blow, dropped to the deck with a thud and tried to get up before pitching face-first into the ropes. Both knockouts Advertisement
are reminiscent of a prime Mike Tyson, when the former heavyweight champion of the world would make his opponents wander around on spaghetti legs and do a dizzy dance after fielding the knockout blow.
Donaire, a Filipino-American from San Leandro, Calif., has two of the fastest hands in the sport. He is tall for a bantamweight at 5-foot-7, and he can do it all. Mostly, though, because of his destructions of Darchinyan and Montiel in his two most high-profile fights, he is known for his power.
But we’ve seen much too little of Donaire’s awesome abilities in 2011, largely due to a legal skirmish with Golden Boy Promotions. Eventually, the dispute was resolved, and Donaire — after a nasty war of words with promoter Bob Arum — is now fighting under the banner of Arum’s Top Rank.
He is hoping the meeting with Narvaez, 35-0-2 (19 KOs), is the beginning of a memorable run that includes showdowns with the winner of the Dec. 3 Mares-Agbeko rematch, or Gamboa.
The Argentine challenger, known as “El Huracan,” is a rugged 5-3 southpaw who will be making his United States debut. At age 36, he is older for a lighter-weight fighter. It is also interesting that he is getting his first international exposure at such an advanced age.
His r?sum? doesn’t include any big names, and he is largely unknown stateside. Narvaez is tough and capable. But there is nothing to suggest he is capable of an upset over the champion.
Donaire by eighth-round TKO.
Also …
HBO will show the replay of last week’s controversial Bernard Hopkins-Chad Dawson mess during the Donaire-Narvaez telecast.
Overall, an anti-climactic round-and-a-half of boxing that was greatly overshadowed by the sensational war between Antonio DeMarco and Jorge Linares. No matter if Hopkins-Dawson played out, it would have never been as good a fight as DeMarco-Linares.
That said, the WBC’s decision to overturn the Dawson victory into a “no contest” was the right one.
Finally, WBC junior middleweight champ Saul “Canelo” Alvarez — also known as boxing’s most protected fighter — meets an opponent with a heartbeat Nov. 26 against Kermit Cintron.
Cintron is not what he used to be, but at this point, I’ll take anything.
Matthew Aguilar may be reached at [email protected].
