Nonito Donaire and The Monster

Published

5 years ago

November 5, 2019

The World Boxing Super Series 118lb tournament climaxes this Thursday in Saitama, Japan as the now fully-fledged wonderkid and local hero Naoya “The Monster” Inoue meets a man who essentially used to be him in the shape of ring veteran and Filipino legend Nonito Donaire. Whatever the outcome there will be tears in the far east come the final bell.

Donaire will recognize much of what awaits him in the opposite corner as he prepares for a monumental crescendo to a storied career. He will see an athletic, powerful, fast technician who can improvise across all styles and he will see some of what he himself used to be. Donaire was once the darling of the hardcore fan, a role Inoue has since embraced with relish. Small but devastating, these men toil in relative obscurity until something pushes them over the top and into the consciousness of the wider boxing public.

For Donaire it took an incredible championship tear-up running from flyweight all the way up to super-bantamweight beginning with that astonishing five round purge of Vic Darchinyan in 2007, arguably both the knockout and the upset of the year.

Donaire has seen ten miles of bad road since then. In 2013 while rated amongst the very best fighters in the world pound-for-pound he ran into an 11-0 contender named Guillermo Rigondeaux and was cleanly out-boxed over twelve. “Rigo” was a technical genius of the Cuban school and although he would go on to display none of the heart and soul that Donaire did in capturing the imaginations of a generation of boxing fans he was so clearly Donaire’s superior that no re-match was seriously touted. The high regard in which Donaire was held also meant that the Filipino was far from finished at the highest level, however; but this could no longer be held as the truth after he was out-pointed and out-fought even more completely by Nicholas Walters, a fine fighter but one that impressed far less than Rigondeaux. Donaire was cast down from the mountain.

Name recognition, the maddening intangible so sought after by marketing professionals, intercedes with boxing in a strange way. Fighters who otherwise might not be thought of are thrown opportunities that would otherwise be beyond their sporting abilities. Donaire never really went away and when he charmed the Irish and British in his gut-fueled 2018 stab at former pound-for-pounder Carl Frampton, Donaire found himself inside a new market, hailed for the first time by the Europeans. It seemed almost reasonable that Donaire, behind this brave and characterful loss, found himself recruited to the World Boxing Super Series bantamweight tournament, though in truth little was expected of him.

When he drew number one seed Ryan Burnett, less still was expected of him but Donaire was firmly in the fight when Burnett slipped a disc and retired from the fight at the end of the fourth. The sentimental regard in which Donaire was held was made clear when what was essentially a bye was met with few complaints. Even when the true second favorite for tournament victory, Zolani Tete withdrew with his own injury troubles and Donaire was matched with substitute Stephon Young in the semi-final, little criticism was heard. The overwhelming attitude was one of curiosity and the former champion did not disappoint.

To be clear, Donaire did not “turn back the clock” against Young. That is possible, perhaps, as demonstrated by the likes of Bernard Hopkins, Joe Brown and Archie Moore, but that is not what happened here. Rather, Donaire showed glimmers of the fighter he once was in dispatching a limited opponent, as was expected of a seasoned veteran of no small matter. But the slashing left-hook that delivered victory and deposited Young in the strange netherworld known only by combat sportspeople and victims of automobile accidents reminded one of the fighter he used to be; for a thrilling moment it was 2009 again. As Donaire knelt beside his stricken opponent in apparent prayer, gently nudging his thigh with one gloved hand, the realization sunk in that Donaire was set to contest the final with the deadly Naoya Inoue.

It would be nice here to offer a detailed breakdown of Inoue’s wonderful skillset and to trace its evolution over recent years but sadly that isn’t possible; no opponent has extended the Japanese past the second round since 2017. He is a wrecking ball of a bantamweight and a fighter who will be keen to remind boxing fans that he, like Canelo Alvarez, has taken straps and scalps in three different weight divisions but that, unlike Alvarez, he has reigned as the best fighter in each of the divisions he has graced.

Inoue has had none of the luck that Donaire has enjoyed in the course of this tournament, but he has gone un-extended regardless. After obliterating Jamie McDonnell in a single round to grab a strap in his bantamweight debut, Inoue drew top bantamweight Juan Payano in the quarter final. Once more a first-round knockout was the result. Against McDonnell he had ended matters with an old-fashioned fuselage of shots forcing the referee’s intervention, but against Payano Inoue favored accuracy and economy, landing a laser-guided one-two straight out of the Tommy Hearns manual on how to destroy ranked opposition. It was a perfect combination thrown at a moving target who had, up until then, never been stopped.

The semi-final against Emmanuel Rodriguez was almost as perfunctory. The right-hand to the body/left-hook to the head for the first knockdown was Tysonesque and as beautiful as any two-piece I’ve seen delivered in a boxing ring; the wide left-right to the body to end matters landed within seconds of the restart, runs it close though.

Inoue does not have a style but a skillset. He does what he likes. Perhaps the ultimate realization of the marriage of boxing technique and modern sports science, he is a machine capable of rendering destruction to a degree unseen anywhere in boxing currently. Perhaps not the artist that Vasily Lomachenko is, perhaps not the one-shot brawler that Deontay Wilder is, he combines much of what is good about both and lets it roll. He will take some beating. It may be that only an opponent of excess poundage or the admirable Japanese propensity for early retirement will get it done.

This, then, is the reward Donaire receives at the end – for it will be the end win or lose – of eighteen years at the sharp end of the toughest of sports. Twelve years after he vanquished Darchinyan, nine after his destruction of Hernan Marquez, seven after he gunned down Fernando Montiel, Donaire steps into the ring with the best fighter he has ever faced.

It is the kind of opportunity faded pugilists lie in bed at night and dream of. Since the fight was made, it is possible that those dreams have taken on a darker tinge. It’s not that Donaire can’t win; anyone who has followed boxing long enough knows those are foolish words. Rather it is that if he did win it would be the biggest shock of this decade and would rank among the most impressive comebacks in ring history.

Watching one of your old favorites put himself in legitimate peril for one more shot at glory is an uncomfortable trope for the boxing fan. Once upon a time he was the danger himself, but no longer is he “the man who knocks.” Rather, he is a fragile version of a fighter who likely even in his prime would have been an underdog against a boxer as special as Inoue. Whether or not you consider this unmissable may depend upon your age and your outlook. If you’re young enough not to remember Donaire’s scintillating prime, you probably feel compelled to track down and watch Inoue, a fighter already anointed great and in the prime of his career. If you are an optimist you may expect to see the old man trouble the relatively inexperienced Japanese, perhaps even witness what seems the impossible.

Or maybe, like me, you’ll be watching between your fingers as eras collide and fighting machines from different generations swing past one-another in a dance as old as the sport itself: the former master facing off against the current embodiment of his own self.

To catch it you’ll have to be up early if you’re reading this in North America or enjoy some glorious mid-morning championship action if you’re reading in Europe.

Inoue will win; I hope Donaire steps off the canvas for what should be the final time with his dignity and health intact.

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Matt McGrain

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Avila Perspective, Chap. 289: East LA, Claressa Shields and More

Published

1 day ago

July 25, 2024

David A. Avila

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Avila Perspective, Chap. 289: East LA, Claressa Shields and More

East Los Angeles has long been a haven for some of the best fighters around if you can keep them out of trouble. For every Oscar De La Hoya or Seniesa Estrada there are thousands derailed by crime, drugs or drinking.

Boxing has always been a favorite sport of East L.A. Every family has an uncle or two who boxes.

On Friday, 360 Promotions’ Omar Trinidad (15-0-1) fights Viktor Slavinskyi (15-2-1) in the main event at Commerce Casino, in Commerce, CA. UFC Fight Pass will stream the fight card.

The City of Commerce used to be part of East L.A. until 1960 when it incorporated. It’s still considered to be part of East Los Angeles, but informally.

Plenty of fighters come out of East L.A. but few make it all the way like De La Hoya and Estrada. Will Trinidad be the one?

The first world champion from East L.A. or “East Los” as some call it, was Solly Garcia Smith back in the late 1800s. Others were Richie Lemos, Art Frias and Joey Olivo. There is also 1984 Olympic gold medalist Paul Gonzalez.

Once again 360 Promotions brings its popular brand of fights to the area. On this fight card includes two female bouts. One features Roxy Verduzco (1-0) the former amateur star fighting Colleen Davis (3-1-1) in a featherweight fight.

All that action takes place on Friday.

Elite Boxing

The next day, also in East L.A., Elite Boxing stages another boxing card at Salesian High School located at 960 S. Soto Street in the Boyle Heights area of East Los Angeles.

Elite Boxing has promoted several successful boxing cards at the Catholic high school grounds. The area is saturated by many of the best eateries in Los Angeles. Don’t take my word for it. Check it out yourself and grab some of that delicious food.

Boxing has long been a favorite sport of anyone who lives in East L.A. It’s a fight town equal to Philadelphia, Brooklyn or Detroit. There’s something different about the area. For more than 100 years some of the best fighters continue to come out of its boxing gyms. Some will be performing on these club shows.

For tickets or information go to www.eliteboxingusa.com

Claressa Shields in Detroit

Speaking of fight towns, pound-for-pound best Claressa Shields who won two Olympic Gold Medals in boxing, moves up another weight division to tackle the WBC heavyweight world champion Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse on Saturday, July 27, at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, Michigan.

DAZN will stream the heavy-duty fight card.

Shields (14-0) cleaned out the super welterweight, middleweight and super middleweight divisions and now wants to add the big girls to her conquests. She will be facing Canada’s Lepage-Joanisse (7-1) who holds the WBC belt.

The last time Shields gloved up was more than a year ago when she fought Maricela Cornejo. Don’t blame Shields. She loves to fight. She loves to win. The last time Shields lost a fight was in the amateurs and that was three presidential administrations ago.

Shields doesn’t lose.

I wonder if Las Vegas even takes bets on her fights?

The only fight she may have been an underdog was against Savannah Marshall who was the last opponent to defeat her. And that was in 2012 in China. When they met as pros two years ago, Shields avenged her loss with a blistering attack.

Don’t get Shields mad.

Perhaps her toughest foe as a pro was in her pro debut when she clashed with Franchon Crews-Dezurn in Las Vegas. It was four rounds of fists and fury as the two pounded each other on the undercard of Andre Ward and Sergey Kovalev in November 2016.

That was a ferocious debut for both female pugilists.

Assisting Shields on this fight card will be several intriguing male bouts. One guy you should pay special attention is Tito Mercado (15-0, 14 KOs) a super lightweight prospect from Pomona, California.

Many excellent fighters have come out of Pomona including Sugar Shane Mosley, Shane Mosley Jr., Alberto Davila and Richie Sandoval who just passed away this week.

Sandoval was best known for his 15-round war with Philadelphia’s Jeff Chandler for the bantamweight world title in 1984. Read the story by Arne K. Lang on this link: https://tss.ib.tv/boxing/featured-boxing-articles-boxing-news-videos-rankings-and-results/81467-former-world-bantamweight-champion-richie-sandoval-passes-away-at-age-63 .

Fights to Watch

Fri. UFC Fight Pass 7 p.m. Omar Trinidad (15-0-1) vs Viktor Slavinskyi (15-2-1).

Sat. ESPN+ 12:30 p.m. Joe Joyce (16-2) vs Derek Chisora (34-13).

Sat. DAZN 3 p.m. Claressa Shields (14-0) vs Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse (7-1), Michel Rivera (25-1) vs Hugo Roldan (22-2-1); Tito Mercado (15-0) vs Hector Sarmiento (21-2).

Omar Trinidad photo by Lina Baker

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Arne’s Almanac: Jake Paul and Women’s Boxing, a Curmudgeon’s Take

Published

2 days ago

July 24, 2024

Arne K. Lang

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Jake Paul can fight more than a little. The view from here is that he would make it interesting against any fringe contender in the cruiserweight division. However, Jake’s boxing acumen pales when paired against his skill as a flim-flam artist.

Jake brought a 9-1 record into last weekend’s bout with Mike Perry. As noted by boxing writer Paul Magno, Jake’s previous opponents consisted of “a You Tuber, a retired NBA star, five retired MMA stars, a part-time boxer/reality TV star, and two undersized and inactive fall-guy boxers.”

Mike Perry, a 32-year-old Floridian, was undefeated (6-0, 3 KOs) as a bare-knuckle boxer after forging a 14-8 record in UFC bouts. In pre-fight blurbs, Perry was billed as the baddest bare knuckle boxer of all time, but against Jake Paul he proved to have very unrefined skills as a conventional boxer which Team Paul undoubtedly knew all along. Perry lasted into the eighth round in a one-sided fight that could have been stopped a lot sooner.

Jake Paul is both a boxer and a promoter. As a promoter, he handles Amanda Serrano, one of the greatest female boxers in history. That makes him the person most responsible (because the buck stops with him) for the wretched mismatch in last Saturday’s co-feature, the bout between Serrano and Stevie Morgan.

Morgan, who took up boxing two years ago at age 33, brought a 14-1 record. Nicknamed the Sledgehammer, she had won 13 of her 14 wins by knockout, eight in the opening round. However, although she resides in Florida, all but one of those 13 knockouts happened in Colombia.

“We found that in Colombia there were just more opportunities for women’s boxing than in the United States,” she told a prominent boxing writer whose name we won’t mention.

The truth is that, for some folks, Colombia is the boxing equivalent of a feeder lot for livestock, a place where a boxer can go to fatten their record. The opportunities there were no greater than in Hot Springs, Arkansas, in 1995. It was there that Peter McNeeley prepped for his match with Mike Tyson with a 6-second knockout of professional punching bag Frankie Hines. (Six seconds? So it would be written although no one seems to have been there to witness it.)

Serrano vs Morgan was understood to be a stay-busy fight for Amanda whose rematch with Katie Taylor was postponed until November. Stevie Morgan, to her credit, answered the bell for the second round whereas others in her situation would have remained on the stool and invented an injury to rationalize it. Thirty-eight seconds later it was all over and Ms. Morgan was free to go home and use her sledgehammer to do some light dusting.

The Paul-Perry and Serrano-Morgan fights played out in a sold-out arena in Tampa before an estimated 17,000. Those without a DAZN subscription paid $64.95 for the livestream. Paul’s next promotion, where he will touch gloves with 58-year-old Mike Tyson (unless Iron Mike pulls a Joe Biden and pulls out; a capital idea) with Serrano-Taylor II the semi-main, will almost certainly rake in more money than any other boxing promotion this year.

Asked his opinion of so-called crossover boxing by a reporter for a college newspaper, the venerable boxing promoter Bob Arum said, “It’s not my bag but folks who don’t like it shouldn’t get too worked up over it because no one is stealing from anybody.” True enough, but for some of us, the phenomenon is distressing.

—

The next big women’s fight happens Saturday in Detroit where Claressa Shields seeks a world title in a third weight class against WBC heavyweight belt-holder Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse.

A two-time Olympic gold medalist, undefeated in 14 fights as a pro, Shields is very good, arguably the best female boxer of her generation which makes her, arguably, the best female boxer of all time. But turning away Lepage-Joanisse (7-1, 2 KOs) won’t elevate her stature in our eyes.

Purportedly 17-4 as an amateur, the Canadian won her title in her second crack at it. Back in August of 2017, she challenged Cancun’s Alejandra Jimenez in Cancun and was stopped in the third round. Entering the bout, Lepage-Joanisse was 3-0 as a pro and had never fought a match slated for more than four rounds.

Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse

True, on the women’s side, the heavyweight bracket is a very small pod. A sanctioning body has to make concessions to harness a sanctioning fee. Nonetheless, how absurd that a woman who had answered the bell for only 11 rounds would be deemed qualified to compete for a world title. (FYI: Alejandra Jimenez was purportedly born a man. She left the sport with a 12-0-1 record after her win over Franchon Crews Dazurn was changed to a no-contest when she tested positive for the banned steroid stanozolol.)

Following her defeat to Jimenez, Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse, now 29 years old, was out of action for six-and-a-half years. When she returned, she was still a heavyweight, but a much slender heavyweight. She carried 231 pounds for Jimenez. In her most recent bout where she captured the vacant WBC title with a split decision over Argentina’s Abril Argentina Vidal, she clocked in at 173 ¼. (On the distaff side, there’s no uniformity among the various sanctioning bodies as to what constitutes a heavyweight.)

Claressa Shields doesn’t need Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse to reinforce her credentials as a future Hall of Famer. She made the cut a long time ago.

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Former World Bantamweight Champion Richie Sandoval Passes Away at Age 63

Published

4 days ago

July 22, 2024

Arne K. Lang

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Richie Sandoval, who won the WBA and lineal bantamweight title in one of the biggest upsets of the 1980s and then, not quite two years later, suffered near-fatal injuries in a title defense, has passed away at the age of 63.

News circulated fast in the Las Vegas boxing community on Monday, July 22, the grapevine actuated by a tweet from Hall of Fame matchmaker Bruce Trampler: “Boxing and the Top Rank family lost one of our own last night in the passing of former WBA bantamweight champion Richie Sandoval. It hurts personally and professionally to know that Richie is gone at age 63. RIP campeon.”

Details are vague but the cause of death was apparently a sudden heart attack that Sandoval experienced while visiting the Southern California home of his son of the same name.

Richie Sandoval put the LA County community of Pomona, California, on the boxing map before Shane Mosley came along and gave the town a more frequently-cited mention in the sports section of the papers. He came from a fighting family. An older brother, Albert “Superfly” Sandoval, became a big draw at LA’s fabled Olympic Auditorium while building a 35-2-1 record that included a failed bid to capture Lupe Pintor’s world bantamweight title.

Richie was a member of the 1980 U.S. Olympic boxing team that was stranded when U.S. President Jimmy Carter (and many other world leaders) boycotted the event as a protest against Russia’s invasion of Afghanistan.

As a pro, Sandoval’s signature win was a 15^th-round stoppage of Jeff Chandler. They fought on April 7, 1984 in Atlantic City. Chandler was making the tenth defense of his world bantamweight title.

Despite being a heavy underdog, Sandoval dominated the fight, winning almost every round until the referee stepped in and waived it off. Chandler, who was 33-1-2 heading in and had avenged his lone defeat, never fought again.

Sandoval made two successful defenses before risking his title against Gaby Canizales on the undercard of Hagler-Mugabi in the outdoor stadium at Caesars Palace. In round seven, Sandoval, who had a hellish time making the weight, was knocked down three times and suffered a seizure as he collapsed from the third knockdown. Stretchered out of the ring, he was rushed to the hospital where doctors reduced the swelling in his brain and beat the odds to save his life. This would be Richie’s lone defeat. He finished his pro career with a record of 29-1 (17 KOs).

Bob Arum cushioned some of the pain by giving Richie a $25,000 bonus and offering him a lifetime job at Top Rank which Richie accepted. And let the record show that Arum was good to his word.

A more elaborate portrait of Richie Sandoval was published in these pages in 2017. You can check it out HERE. May he rest in peace.

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