Donaire Wants To Build Buzz in NYC…BORGES

Published

14 years ago

October 20, 2011

Ron Borges

Donaire_Narvaez_PC_111020_001a Donaire doesn't have an easy target to take down in Narvaez (right). The young bomber will need to work annd think hard to take out the crafty, slick Argentine.

Nonito Donaire knows why he’ll be in Madison Square Garden Saturday night and it’s not simply to defend the WBC and WBO bantamweight titles he unified in February by knocking Fernando Montiel cold. He’s here to knock New York cold because if he does he’ll be hot.

Boxing is more than the manly art of self-defense. It’s more than A.J. Liebling’s Sweet Science or the dark craft of hitting without being hit. Boxing at the level in which Donaire plies the trade is a business and the business of boxing is to become a phenomenon, which is what promoter Bob Arum hopes to turn Donaire into.

Arum did the same for another Filipino fighter named Manny Pacquiao, who difficult though it may be to believe today only a few years ago was having trouble even finding someone willing to train him. He came to Freddie Roach’s Wild Card Gym in Hollywood and asked if he’d work with him and the rest is boxing and business history because together with Roach Pacquiao has become the biggest fiscal phenomenon in the fistic arts.

Donaire seems to have many of the same assets – a winning smile, crushing power and a willingness to wing punches with exceedingly bad intentions. That didn’t take long to cause Montiel to fall to the floor despite being a fine professional and no soft touch. He lasted less than two rounds and it probably won’t take much longer Saturday night against Omar Narvaez. At least that is Arum’s hope because he has brought Donaire nearly 3,000 miles from his California home not simply to have New Yorkers watch him box. He’s brought him here to excite an untapped group of potential pay-per-view customers because nothing sells like concussive power and Donaire has it.

Despite the fact there are far more Filipinos on the West Coast, Arum put Donaire in The Theatre at Madison Square Garden (aka the small room) in the hope he will dispose of Narvaez in the kind of spectacular way that will leave New Yorkers abuzz knowing if he does, the next step has been taken in transforming him from simply another boxer into, perhaps, a boxing phenomenon.

“A lot of people ask me why am I bringing Nonito Donaire to Madison Square Garden and they point out there are over two million Filipinos that live in the Los Angeles area and I tell them Filipinos live all over the United States,’’ Arum explained recently. “There are about 400,000 Filipinos living in the New York metropolitan area and besides there are a lot of great fight fans in New York and this gives them the opportunity to see this phenomenal fighter up close and personal.

“For Nonito’s future, he is being exposed to the Big Apple, fighting an undefeated fighter. Everyone that follows boxing knows he is a top pound-for-pound fighter but our goal is to make him a superstar. To compare that with Manny misses the point. With Nonito, we have to do it Nonito’s way, dealing with who he is and what he represents. Nonito is as much American as he is Filipino because he has lived in this country for so long. I think he was a candidate for the US Olympic team. Manny spends his life in the Philippines. There is a difference there.

“We think that Nonito is such a great, exciting fighter and such a pleasing personality that as he rises in weight to 122 and 126 and maybe above that he will become a major superstar in the sport. The goal, as in any fighter, is to make him a pay-per-view attraction. How long that will take? It is sort of silly to make a projection. It will come when it comes.
“When it comes it will launch him into the elite superstar category where he will make his money based on how many people follow him on pay-per-view. I wouldn’t say 2012 or ’13. We’ll know when it is time to make the move. We can’t put artificial projections in the way of getting to the goal we want to get to.’’

To reach such popularity requires you be more than a local hero. To make a living on pay-per-view requires that portion of the world focused on boxing becomes focused on you. To accomplish that, Donaire figures he has to leave Narvaez out of focus, as he did Montiel.

Donaire (26-1, 18 KO) comes to New York off a startling second round knockout that stunned even veteran fight followers. Not that Donaire won but that he so overwhelmed Montiel that the fight shouldn’t have lasted as long as it did and it barely lasted five minutes.

As he proved again that night in Las Vegas, Donaire is an explosive puncher for a little man, the kind of guy Pacquiao was before he began moving up from one weight class to another, sprawling opponents on the floor as he went. Donaire’s allies figure he has the same kind of potential.

“The cannon that Nonito has, not even all of the elite fighters have it,’’ insists his trainer, Robert Garcia. “You can be an elite fighter and not have that cannon. He sees the punches. He studies the opponents inside the ring and feels what’s coming and he already knows what he’s going to come back with.

“Montiel was landing a few body shots but Nonito was doing that on purpose to time that moment and it landed but not every fighter has that talent. You can be called the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world and not have that talent. Few fighters have it but Nonito is one of them. He is blessed to have it and takes advantage of it and he called it before the fight. He said that was the way it was going to end and two rounds later, we saw it.’’

Now Donaire is hoping to follow Pacquiao’s blueprint to pay-per-view stardom, a simply plan that demands not only victory but spectacularly dominating victories.

Donaire’s problem, if he has one, is that unlike Montiel Narvaez is more a boxer who scores with movement and an understanding of ring geometry rather than someone who wades in looking for trouble. That creates a different and potentially more difficult problem than Montiel offered, one that could make his East Coast arrival more challenging in some ways than Montiel was.
Though he is young and confident, Donaire seems to understand this. Yet while he recognizes the problem and the opportunity in front of him in the end his faith is in one thing above all else – his gift.

“It’s like a chess match with me,’’ Donaire insisted. “If you make a false move, or an error in trying to hit me, make sure you get your hands where they are supposed to be or I will make you pay. That’s the bottom line with me right now – my power has increased tremendously. The fight can end in one punch.

“I always believe my power is enough to change the fight regardless of how many rounds it is. I have said it over and over. The most satisfying victory is a knockout victory.’’

Especially when you are on your first business trip to New York and your business is concussions but not neurology.

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Ron Borges

Bombs Away in Las Vegas where Inoue and Espinoza Scored Smashing Triumphs

Published

2 days ago

May 4, 2025

David A. Avila

Bombs-Away-in-Las-Vegas-where-Inoue-and-Espinoza-Scored-Smashing-Triumphs

Japan’s Naoya “Monster” Inoue banged it out with Mexico’s Ramon Cardenas, survived an early knockdown and pounded out a stoppage win to retain the undisputed super bantamweight world championship on Sunday.

Japan and Mexico delivered for boxing fans again after American stars failed in back-to-back days.

“By watching tonight’s fight, everyone is well aware that I like to brawl,” Inoue said.

Inoue (30-0, 27 KOs), and Cardenas (26-2, 14 KOs) and his wicked left hook, showed the world and 8,474 fans at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas that prizefighting is about punching, not running.

After massive exposure for three days of fights that began in New York City, then moved to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and then to Nevada, it was the casino capital of the world that delivered what most boxing fans appreciate- pure unadulterated action fights.

Monster Inoue immediately went to work as soon as the opening bell rang with a consistent attack on Cardenas, who very few people knew anything about.

One thing promised by Cardenas’ trainer Joel Diaz was that his fighter “can crack.”

Cardenas proved his trainer’s words truthful when he caught Inoue after a short violent exchange with a short left hook and down went the Japanese champion on his back. The crowd was shocked to its toes.

“I was very surprised,” said Inoue about getting dropped. ““In the first round, I felt I had good distance. It got loose in the second round. From then on, I made sure to not take that punch again.”

Inoue had no trouble getting up, but he did have trouble avoiding some of Cardenas massive blows delivered with evil intentions. Though Inoue did not go down again, a look of total astonishment blanketed his face.

A real fight was happening.

Cardenas, who resembles actor Andy Garcia, was never overly aggressive but kept that left hook of his cocked and ready to launch whenever he saw the moment. There were many moments against the hyper-aggressive Inoue.

Both fighters pack power and both looked to find the right moment. But after Inoue was knocked down by the left hook counter, he discovered a way to eliminate that weapon from Cardenas. Still, the Texas-based fighter had a strong right too.

In the sixth round Inoue opened up with one of his lightning combinations responsible for 10 consecutive knockout wins. Cardenas backed against the ropes and Inoue blasted away with blow after blow. Then suddenly, Cardenas turned Inoue around and had him on the ropes as the Mexican fighter unloaded nasty combinations to the body and head. Fans roared their approval.

“I dreamed about fighting in front of thousands of people in Las Vegas,” said Cardenas. “So, I came to give everything.”

Inoue looked a little surprised and had a slight Mona Lisa grin across his face. In the seventh round, the Japanese four-division world champion seemed ready to attack again full force and launched into the round guns blazing. Cardenas tried to catch Inoue again with counter left hooks but Inoue’s combos rained like deadly hail. Four consecutive rights by Inoue blasted Cardenas almost through the ropes. The referee Tom Taylor ruled it a knockdown. Cardenas beat the count and survived the round.

In the eighth round Inoue looked eager to attack and at the bell launched across the ring and unloaded more blows on Cardenas. A barrage of 14 unanswered blows forced the referee to stop the fight at 45 seconds of round eight for a technical knockout win.

“I knew he was tough,” said Inoue. “Boxing is not that easy.”

Espinoza Wins

WBO featherweight titlist Rafael Espinosa (27-0, 23 KOs) uppercut his way to a knockout win over Edward Vazquez (17-3, 4 KOs) in the seventh round.

“I wanted to fight a game fighter to show what I am capable,” said Espinoza.

Espinosa used the leverage of his six-foot, one-inch height to slice uppercuts under the guard of Vazquez. And when the tall Mexican from Guadalajara targeted the body, it was then that the Texas fighter began to wilt. But he never surrendered.

Though he connected against Espinoza in every round, he was not able to slow down the taller fighter and that allowed the Mexican fighter to unleash a 10-punch barrage including four consecutive uppercuts. The referee stopped the fight at 1:47 of the seventh round.

It was Espinoza’s third title defense.

Photo credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank

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Undercard Results and Recaps from the Inoue-Cardenas Show in Las Vegas

Published

2 days ago

May 4, 2025

Arne K. Lang

Undercard-Results-and-Recaps-from-the-Inoue-Cardenas-Show-in-Las-Vegas

The curtain was drawn on a busy boxing weekend tonight at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas where the featured attraction was Japanese superstar Naoya Inoue appearing in his twenty-fifth world title fight.

The top two fights (Inoue vs. Roman Cardenas for the unified 122-pound crown and Rafael Espinoza vs. Edward Vazquez for the WBO world featherweight diadem) aired on the main ESPN platform with the preliminaries streaming on ESPN+.

The finale of the preliminaries was a 10-rounder between welterweights Rohan Polanco and Fabian Maidana. A 2020/21 Olympian for the Dominican Republic, Polanco was a solid favorite and showed why by pitching a shutout, punctuating his triumph by knocking Maidana to his knees late in the final round with a hard punch to the pit of the stomach.

Polanco improved to 16-0 (10). Argentina’s Maidana, the younger brother of former world title-holder Marcos Maidana, fell to 24-4 while maintaining his distinction of never being stopped.

Emiliano Vargas, a rising force in the 140-pound division with the potential to become a crossover star, advanced to 14-0 (12 KOs) with a second-round stoppage Juan Leon. Vargas, who turned 21 last month, is the son of former U.S. Olympian Fernando Vargas who had big money fights with the likes of Felix Trinidad and Oscar De La Hoya. Emiliano knocked Leon down hard twice in round two – both the result of right-left combinations — before Robert Hoyle waived it off.

A 28-year-old Spaniard, Leon was 11-2-1 heading in.

In his U.S. debut, 29-year-old Japanese southpaw Mikito Nakano (13-0, 12 KOs) turned in an Inoue-like performance with a fourth-round stoppage of Puerto Rico’s Pedro Medina. Nakano, a featherweight, had Medina on the canvas five times before referee Harvey Dock waived it off at the 1:58 mark of round four. The shell-shocked Medina (16-2) came into the contest riding a 15-fight winning streak.

Lynwood, California junior middleweight Art Barrera Jr, a 19-year-old protégé of Robert Garcia, scored a sixth-round stoppage of Chicago’s Juan Carlos Guerra. There were no knockdowns, but the bout had turned sharply in Barrera’s favor when referee Thomas Taylor intervened. The official time was 1:15 of round six.

Barrera improved to 9-0 (7 KOs). The spunky but outclassed Guerra, who upset Nico Ali Walsh in his previous outing, declined to 6-2-1.

In the lid-lifter, a 10-round featherweight affair, Muskegon Michigan’s Ra’eese Aleem improved to 22-1 (12) with a unanimous decision over LA’s hard-trying Rudy Garcia (13-2-1). The judges had it 99-01, 98-92, and 97-93.

Aleem, 34, was making his second start since June of 2023 when he lost a split decision in Australia to Sam Goodman with a date with Naoya Inoue hanging in the balance.

Check back shortly for David Avila’s recaps of the two world title fights.

Photo credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank

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Canelo Alvarez Upends Dancing Machine William Scull in Saudi Arabia

Published

3 days ago

May 3, 2025

Arne K. Lang

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Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, who has acquired a new nickname – “The Face of Boxing” – is accustomed to fighting on Cinco De Mayo weekend, but this year was different. For the first time, Canelo was fighting outside the continent of North America and entering the ring at an awkward hour. His match with William Scull started at 6:30 on a Sunday morning in Riyadh.

In the opposite corner was 32-year-old William Scull, an undefeated (23-0) Cuban by way of Germany, whose performance was better suited to “Dancing With the Stars” than to a world title fight. Constantly bouncing from side to side but rarely letting his hands go, Scull frustrated Canelo who found it near-impossible to corner him, but one can’t win a fight solely on defense and the Mexican superstar was returned the rightful winner in a bout that was a fitting cap to a desultory two days of Saudi-promoted prizefighting. The scores were 115-113, 116-112, and 119-109. In winning, Canelo became a fully unified super middleweight champion twice over.

Terence Crawford was in attendance and HE Turki Alalshikh made it official: Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) and Canelo (63-2-2, 39 KOs) will meet in the Fight of the Century (Alalshikh’s words) on Sept. 12 in Las Vegas at the home of the city’s NFL team, the Raiders. For whatever it’s worth, each of Canelo’s last seven fights has gone the full 12 rounds.

Semi-wind-up

In a match between the WBC world cruiserweight title-holder and the WBC world cruiserweight “champion in recess” (don’t ask), the former, Badou Jack, brought some clarity to the diadem by winning a narrow decision over Noel Mikaelian. One of the judges had it a draw (114-114), but the others gave the fight to “Jack the Ripper” by 115-113 scores.

A devout Muslim who is now a full-time resident of Saudi Arabia, the Sweden-born Jack, a three-division title-holder, had the crowd in his corner. Now 41 years old, he advanced his record to 29-3-3 (17). It was the first pro loss for Mikaelian (27-1), a Florida-based Armenian who was subbing for Ryan Rozicki.

The distracted CompuBox operator credited Mikaelian with throwing 300 more punches but there was no controversy.

Tijuana’s Jaime Munguia, a former junior middleweight title-holder, avenged his shocking loss to Bruno Sarace with a unanimous 12-round decision in their rematch. This was Munguia’s first fight with Eddy Reynoso in his corner. The scores were 117-111 and 116-112 twice.

Surace’s one-punch knockout of Munguia in mid-December in Tijuana was the runaway pick for the 2024 Upset of the Year. Heading in, Munguia was 44-1 with his lone defeat coming at the hands of Canelo Alvarez. Munguia had won every round against Surace before the roof fell in on him.

Surace won a few rounds tonight, but Munguia was the busier fighter and landed the cleaner shots. It was the first pro loss for Surace (26-1-2) and ended his 23-fight winning streak. The Frenchman hails for Marseilles.

Heavyweights

In a 10-round heavyweight match fought at a glacial pace, Martin Bakole (21-2-1) and Efe Ajagba (20-1-1) fought to a draw. One of the judges favored Ajagba 96-94 but he was outvoted by his cohorts who each had it 95-95.

Bakole, a 7/2 favorite, came in at 299 pounds, 15 more than he carried in his signature win over Jared Anderson, and looked sluggish. He was never able to effectively close off the ring against the elusive Ajagba who fought off his back foot and failed to build on his early lead.

The fight between the Scotch-Congolese campaigner Bakole and his Nigerian-American foe was informally contested for the heavyweight championship of Africa. That “title” remains vacant.

In a 6-rounder, heavy-handed Cuban light heavyweight Brayon Leon, a stablemate of Canelo Alvarez, was extended the distance for the first time while advancing his record to 7-0 at the expense of Mexico’s Aaron Roche (11-4-1). Leon knocked Roche to the canvas in the fourth round with a right-left combination, but the Mexican stayed the course while eating a lot of hard punches.

Photo credit: Leigh Dawney / Queensberry Promotions

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