By Cliff Rold
Headlining at the Hilton in Las Vegas, Nevada, Philippines-born 27-year old WBA interim 115 lb. titlist and former IBF Flyweight titlist Nonito Donaire (23-1, 15 KO) of San Leandro, California, was stuck with a late replacement opponent for Saturday night’s card when his original foe bowed out due to medical reasons. Donaire sent the late replacement home early, starching 28-year old Manuel Vargas (26-4-1, 11 KO) of Mexico with an uppercut for the full count in round number three.
Donaire came into the contest at the division limit, Vargas one pound under at 114.
Demonstrably larger as he stepped forward at the opening bell, Donaire used his left jab to keep Vargas on the back foot right away. A leaping lead left hook just missed the mark for Donaire and a minute passed before Vargas stepped forward with a missing combination of blows. A jab and long right hand landed for Donaire and when Vargas attempted a response, he was fed a jarring left hook for his troubles. A left hook for Vargas was blocked and Donaire patiently stalked without throwing much in the final thirty seconds to round one.
Vargas landed a long right over the top in the first minute of the second, bringing a quick cheer from the crowd, but Donaire returned harsher fire, stunning Vargas and pushing him backwards. He did it again with a minute to go but was methodical, waiting for openings.
Eating yet another right hand to start the third, Vargas showed courage in coming forward with rights and lefts trying to change his fortunes. It didn’t work. With just more than a minute gone by, Donaire did what it looked like he could have done at any point from the opening bell. Bouncing and sliding side to side in front of Vargas at mid-ring, Donaire unleashed a landing lead left uppercut, and then a straight right, missed with variations of both, and then connected with a right and a final left uppercut. Vargas’s legs stuttered backwards as his body received the full message of the blow and he folded into the floor on his back.
Pointing Donaire to the neutral corner, referee Joe Cortez picked up the count at five. The best Vargas could do was roll from his back to flat on his face as the count reached ten, the action concluded at 1:33 of round three.
Donaire gave credit to his fallen foe, a late replacement for originally scheduled opponent Gerson Guerrero who failed the required Las Vegas eye exams earlier in the week. Vargas, who has been competing three divisions lower at 105 lbs. in his last four fights, gamely stepped in to what appeared before the fight a no-win situation. “(Vargas) was strong. When I saw he was throwing bolos, those are very dangerous punches, but I thought he could not back me up when I threw my jab.”
Looking to the future, Donaire was open to a rematch with World Jr. Bantamweight champion Vic Darchinyan (33-2-1, 27 KO). “That’s what I came for and hopefully I can get that. You know, I’m here, I’m a fighter but I got to listen to my guys and, you know, for me, when you ask a fighter if they’re gonna’ fight, I’m definitely gonna’ fight. Especially if I can acquire two belts.”
Darchinyan currently holds the WBA Super and WBC titles after having also unified the IBF title before forced into a situation where he had to give it up that strap in 2009. Donaire was the first man to defeat, and only man to stop, Darchinyan for the IBF Flyweight belt in July 2007.
In the chief support bout, 30-year old former WBO Flyweight and Jr. Bantamweight titlist Fernando Montiel (39-2-2, 29 KO), 118, of Mexico made the first defense of the WBO Bantamweight crown he won last year and took little time doing it, stopping 22-year old undefeated challenger Ciso Morales (14-1, 8 KO), 118, of the Philippines, with a single shot in round number one.
Montiel, adorned in his typical short shorts, planted and looked for counters almost from the opening bell, using the jab as Morales plunged forward and firing short left hooks from outstretched arms. Morales fired a long right to the body and pulled back into his defensive posture looking for another opening.
He didn’t get it.
Morales lobbed a left hand, left it hanging too long, and Montiel struck with sudden fury. Using his right arm to pin the left of Morales and open his body wide, Montiel countered with a sizzling left hook to the ribs. Morales took a quick step back and then collapsed to both knees near the ropes clutching his stomach. By referee Robert Byrd’s count of five, Morales had collapsed fully face first to the floor in agony, rising to his knees again at the count of nine but with no effort to beat the toll of ten. Byrd waved the contest closed at 2:06 of the first round.
For Montiel, it was a needed dominant showing on the heels of a controversial draw in his last outing. Facing Alejandro Valdez in Mexico last September, Montiel appeared to suffer a fight-stopping cut on a punch only to have the decision rendered a draw. The Morales win extends him to nine straight contests without an official defeat, six of them now by knockout.
His likely next challenger emerged one fight earlier on the night, creating an intriguing clash of veteran stylists sure to be fueled by boxing’s long running Mexico-Puerto Rico feud.
It wasn’t certain until the score were read that it would the direction things were headed. 37-year old former lineal World Jr. Bantamweight and WBO Bantamweight champion Gerry Penalosa (54-7-2, 36 KO), 118, of the Philippines, appeared to do enough to win but wound up the split decision loser against Puerto Rican born 34-year old former WBA Flyweight titlist Eric Morel (42-2, 21 KO), 117, of Madison, Wisconsin. It was a thinking man’s battle throughout between the two veterans.
Morel began the fight well, moving, jabbing, and shooting straight left hands in the first couple of round as Penalosa warmed to the action. By the third, Penalosa was beginning to connect and the contest became a battle of harder shots versus multiplicity of blows, always a scoring nightmare. Cut twice from accidental headbutts in round six, Penalosa amped up his aggression. Coming forward with accurate lead right hooks and looping lefts through a haze of blood, Penalosa was appeared to control the action through the tenth, Morel still fresh and boxing well in the championship rounds.
At the end, the scores favored Morel at 115-113 and 116-112, the other card going to Penalosa at 115-113. The referee was Russell Mora.
Morel takes the interim WBO belt at Bantamweight, making him the mandatory to Montiel. It was the seventh straight win for the 1996 U.S. Olympian following legal issues and a prison term which kept him out of the ring from March 2005 to February 2008. Penalosa loses his second straight following his lone stoppage defeat last year, at Jr. Featherweight, to Juan Manuel Lopez.
The best action of the evening came in the televised opener as 22-year Featherweight Bernabe Concepcion (28-3-1, 15 KO), 126, of the Philippines held off a furious late charge from 31-year old Mario Santiago (21-2-1, 14 KO), 126, of Puerto Rico to earn a ten round unanimous decision and an announced opportunity to face WBO Featherweight titlist Juan Manuel Lopez (28-0, 25 KO).
The southpaw Santiago began the bout in a boxer’s pose, jabbing and looking to keep Concepcion outside but the quick counter puncher wouldn’t stay there. Landing his right hand with increasing authority and accuracy, Concepcion was slowly banking rounds and snared a big one in round six.
Catching Santiago standing on the paint at ring center, Concepcion crashed home with a right to the chin and, his feet tangling, Santiago went to the floor. Bouncing up right away and almost sprinting to the neutral corner, Santiago waited for referee Kenny Bayless to complete the mandatory eight count and signaled his readiness to continue. Concepcion buckled the legs of Santiago again before the round ended but did not drop him.
Santiago would stage a ferocious rally beginning in the waning moments of round nine. Digging to the body, Santiago let loose with both hands and Concepcion stopped punching, stunned as much it seemed by the sheer force of the assault as the punches themselves. Bending over at the waist as he reached the corner, Concepcion was breathing deep while Santiago was jumping up and down as the bell sounded for round ten.
With reckless abandon, Santiago was all over Concepcion, hunting for the knockout. Warned by Bayless for the occasional blow straying below the beltline, Santiago stayed on the body and mixed in wicked uppercuts to the head but Concepcion would not go down. In the last minute, both men were firing power shots, taunting each other with macho bravado, begging the other man to come forward just a little more. They both obliged and respectfully embraced at the final bell.
Santiago’s late efforts would not be enough as Concepcion was awarded the unanimous verdict by scores of 98-91, 97-92, and 96-93.
The card, billed as both Latin Fury and Pinoy Power, was broadcast on pay-per-view in the U.S., promoted by Top Rank.
Cliff Rold is a member of the Ring Magazine Ratings Advisory Panel and the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com
