Nonito Donaire: You Can't Sit Down and Win

Published

11 years ago

April 11, 2013

If there’s one thing Nonito Donaire has learned over these past 13 years, it’s that you can’t stand tall if you’re sitting down. Nor can you achieve your dreams if you become frustrated and simply give up on them.

Now 30, the “Filipino Flash” is at or near the pinnacle of a likely Hall of Fame boxing career that still appears to be on the ascent. Already a fixture on most experts’ pound-for-pound lists, Donaire (31-1, 20 KOs; seen in above Chris Farina-Top Rank photo) puts his WBO super bantamweight championship on the line against two-time Cuban Olympic gold medalist and WBA super bantam titlist Guillermo Rigondeaux (11-0, 8 KOs) Saturday night in New York’s iconic Radio City Music Hall. Should he add Rigondeaux’s strap in the much-anticipated 122-pound unification showdown, Donaire – coming off a stellar 2012 in which he was named Fighter of the Year by the Boxing Writers Association of America, ESPN, Yahoo!Sports, Sports Illustrated and several boxing web sites, including (along with co-winner Robert Guerrero), thesweetscience.com – he could put himself in the early mix to become only the third boxer to win back-to-back BWAA awards. The others? Muhammad Ali, Evander Holyfield and Manny Pacquiao.

“Growing up, there were times I was made fun of and bullied,” Donaire, who emigrated with his family from his native Philippines to San Leandro, Calif., in 1994, said in an exclusive interview with TSS. “There were hardships I went through. It’s just amazing to me to think about where I am now. And I want to go even further. I need to keep reaching for the top.”

But all the good things that have come to Donaire in recent years, not the least of which is the baby boy (he’ll be named Jarel Michael) he and his wife Rachel are expecting in July, might have been put on hold – or worse – had the bitter disappointment of what happened at the 2000 U.S. Olympic Boxing Trials continued to fester.

After Nonito and his older brother Glenn both lost disputed, computer-scored decisions to the favored Brian Viloria in Tampa, Fla., a decision was made – a decision reportedly pushed for by the Donaires’ coach, Robert Salinas – for the brothers to stage an in-ring sitdown strike rather than for Glenn to proceed with a 106-pound losers’ bracket bout with Karoz Norman. Had Glenn, who was favored in that matchup, won, he would have faced Nonito for a berth against Viloria, the Trials winner, in the Box-offs in Mashantucket, Conn.

Taking part in the sitdown strike, which lasted about five minutes, were Salinas, Nonito Donaire Sr., Glenn, family friend Jaquin Gallardo and Nonito, who was all of 17 and even then wondering why he had agreed to participate.

“I was naïve at that time,” the WBO 122-pound ruler recalled. “Whoever led me to make that decision, my brother and I went along because we were convinced that no matter what we did, there was no way for us to come out ahead. Neither Glenn nor I was the `Chosen One.’ Viloria (the defending world amateur champion in his weight class and USA Boxing’s Fighter of the Year) was.

“But now, if I could go back, I would have kept fighting, kept trying. I’ve learned a lot since then. I learned it’s always better to at least try no matter how big your obstacle is. That knowledge helped make me who and what I am now.”

That realization was slow to dawn on a teenager who felt, with some justification, that he and his brother – Glenn is three years older – had been the victims of a flawed amateur boxing system that was stacked against no-names such as themselves. Nonito walked away from boxing, with the intention of never tugging on the gloves again.

“The politics of amateur boxing discouraged me to the point where for a while I really didn’t care about it,” he told me in 2009. “I was offered a spot at Northern Michigan University (where the U.S. Olympic Education Center is located) and a chance to compete for the 2004 U.S. Olympic team, but I was really down on the sport at that point. My idea was to forget about boxing and to go to school. I actually did quit boxing for a year or so.

“Then I saw Dre (Andre Ward, the USA’s last Olympic gold medalist in boxing, in 2004, and currently the WBA/WBC super middleweight champion) and he got me back into it. He and some other people made me realize I had the talent to still achieve something.”

It was a fortuitous moment in Donaire’s life pretty much along the lines of a music teacher telling little Yo Yo Ma, hey, you might want to stick with those cello lessons. When you have the talent of a virtuoso, you don’t throw it all away in an impulsive moment because you’re hissed off.

OK, so maybe Yo Yo Ma never wanted to stick his cello in the closet after a less-than-perfect recital. But the Donaires’ act of defiance, ill-advised though it might have been, now might be looked upon as a small brick in the road toward change that has resulted in the scrapping of the hated computer scoring system and other reforms instituted by AIBA and USA Boxing’s new president, Dr. Charles Butler. One can only speculate how it all might have turned out for the Donaires, particularly the more gifted Nonito, had all the changes been in effect in 2000.

“I’m happy they went back to the old-school way of doing things,” Nonito said of the much-needed makeover of the amateur boxing establishment. “You can’t change judges’ opinions, of course. You’re still going to get curious decisions, just like you get sometimes in the pros. But at least they’re finally getting rid of that ridiculous scoring system that held so many guys back. What people are going to see now is more of what I consider to be real boxing, and that can’t help but be a good thing.”

No American boxer was expected to shine more in Tampa in 2000 than Viloria, but many ringside media types felt that the wrong guy came out ahead in the 10-5 nod he got over Glenn, and that impression was intensified after Nonito dropped an 8-6 decision to Viloria, a fellow Filipino-American. In the third round of that bout, Nonito appeared to score with four or five clean jabs in the center of the ring, but somehow was credited with just one point.

“I think the big thing is that I was an unknown who wasn’t really expected to do anything at the Trials,” he said. “I was not being groomed for stardom. I was the short-notice guy, the guy who was supposed to lose.”

Of the sitdown strike, Salinas said, “None of the other people have enough courage to do this. We know this is the wrong way (to make a point), but we needed to do something. (USA Boxing) has a select few and there’s no way to beat them, so why try? If we lose fairly, fine. But if we lose because of politics, that is something else.”

Gary Toney, then the USA Boxing president, called the sitdown strike “tragic,” adding that “As far as I’m concerned, (the Donaire brothers) were given very poor advice by their coach. One of them probably would have advanced to the Box-offs and would have had a chance to make the Olympic team. Why would anyone want to deny a kid that opportunity?”

Nonito still feels he deserved the victory over Viloria he was denied, but he believes the real tragedy would have been had he never come back from his self-imposed exile.

“It’s not that I think about it all the time, but I kind of have a clue as to how things might have been for me if I hadn’t gone back to boxing,” he said. “I wouldn’t have fulfilled all of my dreams that are now coming true, that’s for sure. I always strive for the best, to be the best, but how can you do that if you just give up on something? I’m glad I chose boxing again. I couldn’t let it end that way.”

Perhaps, in retrospect, there were some benefits to Nonito taking some time off to clear his head and to rededicate himself to what he did best. He was a pure boxer as an amateur, a stick-and-move type with little apparent power, but when he turned pro on Feb. 22, 2001, with a first-round knockout of Jose Lazaro, he showed considerably more pop in his punches. Never was his newfound strength more evident than on July 7, 2007, when he wrested the IBF flyweight title from Vic Darchinyan on as emphatic a one-punch takeout as you’ll ever see. That left hook in the fifth round might have made Joe Frazier smile in approval. Maybe that part of Donaire’s development would have been put on hold had he stuck around to try for the 2004 Olympics.

“The power came out of desperation,” Donaire said. “I began to understand the way my body moves, because of the speed I always had. My speed became my power. And, to tell the truth, I was kind of afraid to get hit in the amateurs. That’s why I always boxed. I got pretty good at it.”

Viloria, of course, has gone on to have a fine pro career in his own right. He lost his WBA and WBO flyweight titles to Juan Estrada, on a split decision, on April 6 in Macao, China. He and Donaire cross paths occasionally, but the subject of their Olympic Trials bout never comes up.

“When I fought in the Philippines (a fourth-round stoppage of Raul Martinez on April 19, 2009), Brian was on the undercard,” Donaire said. “We talked some, but not about that. What happened in 2000 is in the past. It was a growing-up process for me. Whenever I see him now, it’s, like, `Hey, how are you doing? What’s up?’”

What’s up is Nonito Donaire’s status as an emerging superstar in the sport he once considered abandoning. It’s been a long, strange journey from there to here, but maybe that makes arrival at the final destination all the more satisfying.

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Bernard Fernandez

Ramon Cardenas Channels Micky Ward and KOs Eduardo Ramirez on ProBox

Published

2 days ago

April 24, 2024

Arne K. Lang

Ramon-Cardenas-Channels-Micky-Ward-and-KOs-Eduardo-Ramirez-on-ProBox

The Wednesday night bi-monthly series of fights on the ProBox TV platform is the best deal in boxing; the livestream is free with no strings attached! Tonight’s episode was headlined by a super bantamweight match between San Antonio’s Ramon Cardenas and Eduardo Ramirez who brought a caravan of rooters from his hometown in Guaymas, Sonora, Mexico.

Cardenas, coached by Joel Diaz, entered the contest ranked #4 by the WBA. He was expected to handle Ramirez with little difficulty, but this was a close, tactical fight through eight frames when lightning struck in the form of a left hook to the liver from Cardenas. Ramirez went down on one knee and wasn’t able to beat the count. It was as if Cardenas summoned the ghost of Micky Ward who had a penchant for terminating fights with the same punch that arrived out of the blue.

The official time was 1:37 of round nine. Cardenas improved to 25-1 with his14th win inside the distance. Ramirez, who was stopped in the opening round by Nick “Wrecking” Ball in London in his lone previous fight outside Mexico, falls to 23-3-3.

Co-Feature

In an upset, Tijuana super welterweight Damian Sosa won a split decision over previously undefeated Marques Valle, a local area fighter who was stepping up in class in his first 10-round go. Sosa was the aggressor, repeatedly backing his taller opponent into the ropes where Valle was unable to get good leverage behind his punches.

The 25-year-old Valle, managed by the influential David McWater, was the house fighter. This was his 10^th appearance in this building. He brought a 10-0 (7) record and was hoping to emulate the success of his younger brother Dominic Valle who scored a second-round stoppage of his opponent in this ring two weeks ago, improving to 9-0. But Sosa, who brought a 24-2 record, proved to be a bridge too high.

The judges had it 97-93 and 96-94 for the Tijuana invader and a disgraceful 98-92 for the house fighter.

Also

In a fight whose abrupt ending would be echoed by the main event, 34-year-old SoCal featherweight Ronny Rios, now training in Las Vegas, returned to the ring after a 22-month hiatus and scored a fifth-round stoppage over Nicolas Polanco of the Dominican Republic.

A three-punch combo climaxed by a left hook to the liver took the breath out of Polanco who slumped to his knees and was counted out. A two-time world title challenger, Rios advanced to 34-4 (17 KOs). Polanco, 34, declined to 21-6-1. The official time was 0:54 of round five.

—

The next ProBox show (Wednesday, May 8) will have an international cast with fighters from Kazakhstan, Japan, Mongolia, and the United Kingdom. In the main event, Liverpool’s Robbie Davies Jr will make his U.S. debut against the California-based Kazakh Sergey Lipinets.

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Haney-Garcia Redux with the Focus on Harvey Dock

Published

4 days ago

April 22, 2024

Arne K. Lang

Haney-Garcia-Redux-with-the-Focus-on-Harvey-Dock

Saturday’s skirmish between Ryan Garcia and WBC super lightweight champion Devin Haney was a messy affair, and yet a hugely entertaining fight fused with great drama. In the aftermath, Garcia and Haney were celebrated – the former for fooling all the experts and the latter for his gallant performance in a losing effort – but there were only brickbats for the third man in the ring, referee Harvey Dock.

Devin Haney was plainly ahead heading into the seventh frame when there was a sudden turnabout when Garcia put him on the canvas with his vaunted left hook. Moments later, Dock deducted a point from Garcia for a late punch coming out of a break. The deduction forced a temporary cease-fire that gave Haney a few precious seconds to regain his faculties. Before the round was over, Haney was on the deck twice more but these were ruled slips.

The deduction, which effectively negated the knockdown, struck many as too heavy-handed as Dock hadn’t previously issued a warning for this infraction. Moreover, many thought he could have taken a point away from Haney for excessive clinching. As for Haney’s second and third trips to the canvas in round seven, they struck this reporter – watching at home – as borderline, sufficient to give referee Dock the benefit of the doubt.

In a post-fight interview, Ryan Garcia faulted the referee for denying him the satisfaction of a TKO. “At the end of the day, Harvey Dock, I think he was tripping,” said Garcia. “He could have stopped that fight.”

Those that played the rounds proposition, placing their coin on the “under,” undoubtedly felt the same way.

The internet lit up with comments assailing Dock’s competence and/or his character. Some of the ponderings were whimsical, but they were swamped by the scurrilous screeching of dolts who find a conspiracy under every rock.

Stephen A. Smith, reputedly America’s highest-paid TV sports personality, was among those that felt a need to weigh-in: “This referee is absolutely terrible….Unreal! Horrible officiating,” tweeted Stephen A whose primary area of expertise is basketball.

Harvey Dock

Dock fought as an amateur and had one professional fight, winning a four-round decision over a fellow novice on a show at a non-gaming resort in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania. He says that as an amateur he was merely average, but he was better than that, a New Jersey and regional amateur champion in 1993 and 1994 while a student New Jersey’s Essex County Community College where he majored in journalism.

A passionate fan of Sugar Ray Leonard, he started officiating amateur fights in 1998 and six years later, at age 32, had his first documented action at the professional level, working low-level cards in New Jersey. The top boxing referees, to a far greater extent than the top judges, had long apprenticeships, having worked their way up from the boonies and Dock is no exception.

Per boxrec, Haney vs Garcia was Harvey Dock’s 364^th assignment in the pros and his forty-second world title fight. Some of those title fights were title in name only, they weren’t even main events, but, bit by bit, more lucrative offerings started coming his way.

On May 13, 2023, Dock worked his first fights in Nevada, a 4-rounder and then a 12-rounder on a card at the Cosmopolitan topped by the 140-pound title fight between Rolly Romero and Ismael Barroso. It was the first time that this reporter got to watch Dock in the flesh.

Ironically (in hindsight), the card would be remembered for the actions of a referee, in this case Tony Weeks who handled the main event. Barroso was winning the fight on all three cards when Weeks stepped in and waived it off in the ninth round after Romero cornered Barroso against the ropes and let loose a barrage of punches, none of which landed cleanly. Few “premature stoppages” were ever as garishly, nay ghoulishly, premature.

With all the brickbats raining down on Weeks, I felt a need to tamp down the noise by diverting attention away from Tony Weeks and toward Harvey Dock and took to the TSS Forum to share my thoughts. Referencing the 12-rounder, a robust junior welterweight affair between Batyr Akhmedov and Kenneth Sims Jr, I noted that Dock’s Las Vegas debut went smoothly. He glided effortlessly around the ring, making him inconspicuous, the mark of a good referee. (This post ran on May 15, two days after the fight.)

Folks at the Nevada State Athletic Commission were also paying attention. Dock was back in Las Vegas the following week to referee the lightweight title fight between Devin Haney and Vasyl Lomachenko and before the year was out, he would be tabbed to referee the biggest non-heavyweight fight of the year, the July 29 match in Las Vegas between Terence Crawford and Errol Spence Jr.

The Haney-Garcia fight wasn’t Harvey Dock’s best hour, I’ll concede that, but a closer look at his full body of work informs us that he is an outstanding referee.

—

While the Haney-Garcia bout was in progress, WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman threw everyone a curve ball, tweeting on “X” that Devin Haney would keep his title if he lost the fight. Everyone, including the TV commentators, was under the impression that the title would become vacant in the event that Haney lost.

Sulaiman cited the precedent of Corrales-Castillo II.

FYI: The Corrales-Castillo rematch, originally scheduled for June 3, 2005 and aborted on the day prior when Castillo failed to make weight, finally came off on Oct. 8 of that year, notwithstanding the fact that Castillo failed to make weight once again, scaling three-and-a-half pounds above the lightweight limit. He knocked out Corrales in the fourth round with a left hook that Las Vegas Review-Journal boxing writer Kevin Iole, alluding to the movie “Blazing Saddles,” described as Mongo-esque (translation: the punch would have knocked out a horse). After initially insisting on a rubber match, which had scant chance of happening, WBC president Jose Sulaiman, Mauricio’s late father, ruled that Corrales could keep his title.

Whether or not you agree with Mauricio Sulaiman’s rationale, the timing of his announcement was certainly awkward.

Haney’s mandatory is Spanish southpaw Sandor Martin (42-3, 15 KOs), a cutie best known for his 2021 upset of Mikey Garcia. A bout between Haney and Martin has the earmarks of a dull fight.

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In a Shocker, Ryan Garcia Confounds the Experts and Upsets Devin Haney

Published

5 days ago

April 21, 2024

David A. Avila

In-a-Shocker-Ryan-Garcia-Confounds-the-Experts-and-Upsets-Devin-Haney

Its good to be crazy. Like a fox.

Ryan “KingRy” Garcia knocked down WBC super lightweight titlist Devin Haney three times to remind everyone of his fighting abilities in winning by majority decision on Saturday.

“I just knew what I could do,” Garcia said.

Fans will not forget the lanky kid from Victorville, California now.

Garcia (25-1, 20 KOs) fooled everyone in playing crazy weeks before the fight, then showed shocking power to hand Haney (30-1, 15 KOs) his first loss as a professional at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

Haney’s WBC super lightweight title was not at stake for Garcia because he weighed three pounds over the limit.

After Garcia seemingly acting out of control on social media, Haney’s guard must have slipped in the first round during the first few seconds as Garcia connected with that hellish left hook and Haney, with a look of shock in his eyes, almost went down. He barely survived the first round.

“He caught me with it,” said Haney.

During the next few rounds, Haney proceeded to advance toward Garcia seemingly fully aware of the lethal left hook. He used feints and rights to score with a busier approach as Garcia seemed cocked and ready to counter with a left hook.

In the fourth round it seemed Haney was confident he had regained control of the fight, but every time he opened up with more than a two-punch combination Garcia reminded him whose hands were faster and more dangerous.

Though Garcia seldom jabbed he seemed bent on looking for the right moment to unleash his deadly left hook. And every time the Southern California fighter opened up with a combination he scored and Haney dare not exchange.

A few times Haney smiled as if signifying he escaped.

In the seventh round Haney looked to punish Garcia’s body and instead was met with a three-punch combination included a left hook to the chin and down went Haney slumped on the ground. He managed to beat the count and as soon as Garcia came within reach Haney wrapped his arms around him with a python grip. Despite the warnings by referee Harvey Dock, the fallen fighter would not release and Garcia impatiently fired a weak punch during the break. The referee deducted a point from Garcia though he could have deducted a point from Haney for not obeying his instructions to release his hold. Haney actually went down three times in the round but only one was counted by the referee.

From that point on Haney was very cautious but still looking to win by decision.

Though Garcia kept using a shoulder-roll defense that left his body exposed, he would retaliate with three and four punch combinations that usually Haney could defend against other fighters.. But Garcia’s blazing combinations were too fast to defend.

In the 10^th round Haney looked to attack and was countered by Garcia’s right and a blinding left hook to the chin and another two blows that sent the former undisputed lightweight champion to the floor again.

It didn’t look good for Haney to survive.

Garcia walked into the 11^th round still composed and never out-of-control He dared Haney to exchange and when within striking distance Garcia unleashed another lightning combination and down went Haney again with a defeated look.

Both fighters had fought each other as amateurs six times so there were no surprises between them. But Garcia’s power and speed were superior and that was the difference in a professional fight.

In the final round both were cautious with Garcia’s combination punching proving too dangerous for Haney to open up. Garcia celebrated early as the round ended confident of victory.

After 12 rounds Garcia was seen the victor by majority decision 112-112, 114-110, 115-109.

“You really thought I was crazy,” Garcia told the interviewer and the crowd. “You guys hated on me.”

Other Bouts

Arnold Barboza (30-0) won a curious split decision victory over United Kingdom’s Sean McComb (18-2) in a 10-round super lightweight fight. McComb’s long reach and busy southpaw style gave Barboza trouble. But he managed to win the fight though the crowd was not pleased.

Bektemir Melikuziev (14-1, 10 KOs) defeated France’s Pierre Dibombe (22-1-1) by technical decision after eight rounds due to a cut on his eye from an accidental head butt. It was a very competitive super middleweight fight.

Costa Rica’s David Jimenez (16-1, 11 KOs) outworked John “Scrappy Ramirez (13-1, 9 KOs) in a 12-round scrap to upset the Los Angeles based fighter. After a few close rounds Jimenez simply bullied his way inside and forced Ramirez against the ropes and unloaded his guns.

After 12 rounds two judges saw it 117-111 and 116-114 all for Jimenez.

“I’m a hard-working man from Cartago I come from nothing,” said Jimenez. “My corner told me I had to work inside.”

Charles Conwell (19-0, 14 KOs) stepped on the gas early with vicious body shots and uppercuts and blasted through the resilient Nathaniel Gallimore (22-8-1, 17 KOs) for several rounds. After a brutal fifth and sixth round the referee halted the one-side beating in favor of Conwell who was fighting for the first time under the Golden Boy banner.

Another winner was Sergiy Derevyanchenko (15-5) by decision over Vaughn Alexander (18-11-1) in a super middleweight match.

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