NONITO Donaire Jr. was unbeaten for 11 years and Toshiaki Nishioka for eight years.
Before they fought on Sunday in Carson City, California, many were saying the fight could be Donaire?s defining moment, that this one would either establish him as a champ worthy of HBO?s PPV (pay-per-view) attraction or not.
Well, quit the crap, please?
Donaire has always been a sure top draw. The problem he wasn?t immediately a blockbuster hotcake emanates from his own stubbornness to listen to reason. Did he not disobey Bob Arum for a time?
Long before they fought, I had always maintained that Nishioka had the littlest of chances of beating Donaire.
Not even Nishioka?s record of 39-4-3 (24 knockouts) impressed me, which is embellished by a 16-fight winning streak beginning 2005.
Drumbeaters bandied his moniker about to lure the crowd: Speed King.
They succeeded, as the 8,000-seat Home Depot was almost overflowing?but mainly because of Mexican brawlers fighting in the undercards.
And after seeing blood spilling out of the ring in the brutal bang-bang between Rios and Alvarado (Rios by seventh-round TKO), the spectators started to boo the Donaire-Nishioka fight when there wasn?t much action happening, particularly in the early goings.
Not exactly Donaire?s fault. Donaire wanted a brawl, but Nishioka kept covering his face virtually all throughout. He was deathly scared.
But after Nishioka got decked with a left uppercut in the sixth, the Japanese, whose last defeat came in 2004 at the hands of a Thai named Veeraphol Sahaprom, started to unleash combinations of his own.
And, knowing he was behind in all scorecards (I didn?t give him a round from Rounds 1 to 8), Nishioka tried to snatch victory with a knockout.
While trying desperately for that in the ninth, Nishioka got tagged with a right straight to the face and fell for the second time.
Although Nishioka would beat the count, referee Raul Caiz Sr., seeing the Japanese was too weak to continue, stopped the fight in 1:54 of the ninth.
Because Donaire (30-1, 19 KOs) is only 29, he will stay on as champ for some time. Mark my word.
