By: Nick Bellafatto
In the main event of the evening in a junior featherweight unification bout from Carson Califonia’ Home Depot Center this past Saturday night, Nonito “The Filipino Flash” Donaire (29-1, 18 KO’s) fighting out of San Leandro, California via General Santos City, Philippines would earn a one-sided unanimous decision victory over South African fighter Jeffery “Marvelous Mongoose” Mathebula (26-4-2, 14 KO’s). By scores of 119-108, 118-109, and 117-110, Nonito in fact becomes the owner of two belts at 122 pounds, adding the IBF belt to his existing WBO title.
And with this fight telecast on HBO’ acclaimed series “Boxing After Dark,” it’s a little perplexing that the HBO crew itself would have the bout much closer than many at ringside. For most observers in press row, they would see the fight along the same lines as the judges, to whom apparently it would appear that “The Filipino Flash” was the clear aggressor during most, if not the entire bout. This in the face of less than effective resistance on the part of backpedaling adversary Jeffery Mathebula.
Perhaps Harold Lederman and company who had the bout 7-5 rounds for Donaire were looking at the compubox numbers where Mathebula led in punches thrown and connected. Those punches carried little weight, so that the judges perhaps accordingly failed to give them much weight, and/or consideration in their scoring the bout.
During the proceedings, the shorter Nonito Donaire in trying to close the gap early on in a bobbing and weaving style, would come to realize that his lengthier opponent had not the stiff jab, nor the power, nor the work rate to keep him on the outside. To this end the Filipino fighter would walk right through what Mathebula had to offer up, pressing the attack to do intermittent damage, especially with the left hand. However, once inside, Nonito would find the South African quite elusive so that landing on a regular basis was only an aspiration.
Moreover, after a competitive showing by Jeffery in the first three rounds, a big left hook landed by Nonito towards the close of the fourth round would drop the “Marvelous Mongoose” in a heap, from which he would rise to make it back to his corner on shaky legs. This knockdown would change the complexion of the fight, as from that point forward Donaire would become the hunter, and Mathebula the hunted.
And even though both men demonstrated good defensive movement whereby solidly landed punches were a rare commodity, when the Filipino did connect, he did so with visible impact, as opposed to the light hitting South African who’s knockout ratio of 43.75 % would be in full effect. In victory, Nonito Donaire would reiterate his intentions of unifying the entire division, while at the same time he would accept a post-fight in the ring direct challenge from Japan’ Toshiaki Nishioka who currently holds no title.
In addition to Nishioka, “The Filipino Flash” would also mention other potential future opponents to include Jorge Arce, yet another non-title holder, as well as Abner Mares, the 122 pound WBC belt bearer who would partially fulfill Donaire’ intent to become the undisputed division champion should they meet in their existing capacities.
In finality, HBO commentator Max Kellerman would briefly allude to a major missing piece of the puzzle in the form of Cuban prodigy and WBA junior featherweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux, of whom strangely Nonito wouldn’t expand on or follow up on in any way.
A fight with the formidable Rigondeaux, who stands in the way of Donaire getting all the belts, is already creating a buzz within the boxing community, so much so that if a fight with the two-time Olympic Gold Medalist were to never come off, this would fly in the face of the Filipino’ assertions that he is truly motivated to unify the division entirely.
I believe Donaire to be a sincere person who will at some point step up to challenge Rigondeaux, a fight much on the minds of boxing fans the world over. Whether a contest between these two is on the mind of the man who promotes them both and can make it happen, that being Top Rank’ Bob Arum, that remains to be seen. Apparently it’s not going to happen this year, as a bout in the Fall with either Nishioka, Arce, or Mares is what seems to be on tap.
Co-main event:
In the co-main event of the evening between the still comebacking Kelly “The Ghost” Pavlik (40-2, 34 KO’s) and the less than formidable Will “Power” Rosinsky (16-2, 9 KO’s), it would be a game of cat and mouse. To further a scenario as it relates to each fighter’s ring name, ironically Rosinsky would play the role of the ghost, darting in and out while moving side to side in an effort to outscore his opponent without getting caught, while in contrast, Pavlik would pursue his opponent all night long in an attempt to land his power.
Well Rosinsky did get caught at least once, with a compact right hook that would drop the New Yorker for 2-count in the second round. Otherwise, the action would continue in the same relative pattern over the course of ten full rounds. In the end in what seemed to be a much closer bout, apparently the judges favored the aggressiveness of Kelly Pavlik who would be awarded a unanimous decision verdict by scores of 98-91 twice and, 97-92.
Stated Pavlik in victory, “I’m ready for a big fight. I want to fight in the Fall. Either like Bute, Kessler, Ward. That level of a fight.” It remains to be seen what lies ahead for Kelly, or if he even qualifies to meet the aforementioned fighters as a result of his acquiring the victory against an unknown quantity in Will Rosinsky. But he’s content, and he keeps on plodding away in his new setting of Oxnard, California. Only time will tell.
Undercard Bouts:
In a scheduled four-rounder to open Saturday’s action at the Home Depot Center, featherweight Victor Pasillas of nearby Los Angeles improves to 2-0 after he abuses his overmatched opponent Jesus Adame of Guasave, Mexico. The time came at 2:35 of the third round after referee Jose Cobian saw fit to intervene on behalf of the slower Adame who was never able to land much of anything while absorbing what looked to be exorbitant punishment. As a result, Adame falls to a lowly 2-10.
In junior welterweight action that went the six round distance, KeAndre Gibson of St. Louis, Missouri (7-0-1, 3 KO’s) would win a unanimous decision over Moris Rodriguez (3-1-1, 2 KO’s) of Chico, California by scores of 58-86 all the way around. With the speedier Gibson landing the harder more precise shots over the course of the first four rounds, Rodriguez would come on a bit to wobble Gibson twice in the fifth round. However, with the Chico fighter unable to capitalize, the bout would head into the sixth where Rodriguez would attempt to apply further pressure, but that pressure wouldn’t be effective enough to catch up to Gibson who would stick and move his way to the final bell and the victory.
A slightly larger and sturdier looking Eric Flores (4-1-1, 1 KO) of Inglewood, California would impose himself upon a defensive minded Raymond Nichol (3-1-1, 2 KO’s) of Denver, Colorado who was outgunned, out-landed, and out-done over the course of four rounds. Rarely landing anything meaningful on his opponent, Nichol was victimized by Flores who tended to put his punches together, the harder shots I might add, to carve out a unanimous decision by scores of 40-35, and 40-36 twice.
The fourth bout of the evening between Jose Roman (14-0, 11 KO’s) of Garden Grove, California and Rodolpho Armenta (11-8-1, 9 KO’s) of Rio Rico, Arizona, a junior welterwieght contest, started the same way it finished. With Roman not only the more technically sound fighter but the harder puncher, he would open the bout to drop Armenta with a big left hook, from which the Arizona native would recover, only to become victimized once more by Roman who would land that very same punch in the fifth round. However, the blow that landed in the fifth would impact Armenta much more dramatically, putting him down and out for the count. The time was 1:23 of the fifth round.
Able to absorb punishment round after round, the game and bloodied Hector Munoz (10-8-1, 13 KO’s) of Albuquerque, New Mexico would keep coming at undefeated Brad Solomon (18-0, 7 KO’s) of Douglasville, Georgia, who must have wondered what he had to do to get his opponent out of there after hitting him repeatedly with his best shots. Dropping Munoz with a short right hand in the second round only seemed to strengthen the Mexican fighter’s resolve, who, after round two, would handle Solomon’ power much better. With Munoz subsequently wading in to apply pressure each and every second of every round, this would cause the more skilled Solomon to fatigue a bit. However, digging down deep into his reserves, Solomon would use the ring as well as most of his energy, effectively picking spots to fight in with quite a bit of success. As a result of Solomon’ efforts, the undefeated fighter from Georgia would remain so, earning a well deserved unanimous decision victory by scores of 79-71, 78-72, and 77-73.
In an eight round attraction between heavyweights, an overweight looking Andy Ruiz Jr. (15-0, 9 KO’s) of Mexicali, Mexico with the hand speed of a little man would put on the most entertaining bout of the evening along with counterpart Jonte Willis (8-4-1, 3 KO’s) of Tacoma, Washington. Even though Willis was game up until the very end, not only was he giving up as much as forty pounds to his opponent, but it was evident from the start that Ruiz Jr. threw the more technically sound punches.
Giving it what he had for as long as he could, Willis along with his bloody face and swollen shut eye would eventually succumb to his opponent Ruiz, who by way of dishing out an accumulation of punishment to both body and head, would look to have Willis out on his feet so that referee Wayne Hedgepeth would step in and call a halt at 0:54 of the eighth and final round. The end result was a TKO victory for Ruiz.
After getting dropped with an uppercut in the liver region in the opening moments by opponent Anthony Flores (2-0, 1 KO) of nearby Inglewood, California to then get outworked in the second round, Cameron Kreal (2-2-2, 0 KO’s) of Las Vegas, Nevada figured out his opponent a bit to make a more competitive showing in the final two rounds of this scheduled four-rounder. Apparently it wasn’t enough of an effort to draw or pull ahead on the scorecards as Kreal would lose to Flores by unanimous decision. The final tallies would read 39-36, and 38-37 twice.
