SAN LEANDRO’S FILIPINO FLASH KOs CHAMP IN 2ND ROUND
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Students stretching before P.E. at San Lorenzo High School in the late 90s watched with awe and a tinge of jealousy as a young Nonito Donaire worked out to his own training regiment away from the rest of the class. After Donaire’s stunning second round knockout of Fernando Montiel Saturday night in Las Vegas, the San Leandro native is nearing a class of his own.
Donaire, who was born in General Santos City in the Philiipines, the same city as world champion Manny Pacquiao and grew up in San Leandro while attending San Lorenzo High. The explosive Donaire won both the WBO and WBC bantamweight titles from the future hall of famer Montiel (44-3-2) with a quick, explosive left hook that fell the Mexican with such force that he appeared to be convulsing on the mat. Montiel was rushed to a nearby hospital for observation, but the night may have been a national coming-out party for boxing’s next rising star.
The second round knockout was Donaire’s 18th in 27 career fights (26-1). Donaire told HBO during his post-fight interview he would like to stay in the bantamweight division, but some at Top Rank Boxing may be urging him to move up in weight from 118 pounds to 122, or possibly 126. The Filipino’s career trajectory mimics that of Pacquiao and it may be by design. Most boxing analyst see Donaire as possibly the heir apparent to arguably the sport’s biggest name.
The knockout at 2:25 of the second round came after a brief flurry from Montiel resulting in a blinding left hook by Donaire to the head. Montiel’s legs shuddered while on the ground, yet he was able to barely beat the count before the referee stopped the fight after another combination from Donaire.
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I once sat next to a fighters father at the Boston Garden in a preliminary fight before a Marvin Hagler main event. The father's son was winning the fight for the first few rounds and the father was beaming. As the fight went on the son started to lose and the look on the fathers face went from from joy to sorrow. A facial expression is worth a thousand words I guess.
Doniare's father spent too much time under the Marcos dictatorship, I guess.
Craig
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Mary, you work for Immigration? Thought so. There are a lot of undocumented or past visa time here in town. Way too many foreign nationals sucking up jobs and benefits from Real Americans.
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Craig, I think the Daily Review ran a AP story on the fight but not sure. The Chronicle actually sent their Raiders beat writer to cover the match. He did a good job and they talked about him CSN Bay Area. I think the next time around we'll hear even more coverage.
When covered his Sept 2009 fight as a freelancer, I wasn't too impressed with him although KOd the guy. What's interesting about him is the cultural differences. I totally caters to the Filipino media's need for novela type drama. He could he could hear his estrangled father in the audience telling Jim what to do like a ghost. He's either psychotic or putting on a slick Bob Arum performance.
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I heard Cassidy was advising Donaire .A photo of the mayor and the champ shows Cassidy in what seems to be a stance about to throw a left hook. Also I didn't see any news of the fight in the Monday Daily Review . What's up with that?
Craig
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He's one hell of a fighter. One announcer put him in the group of the worlds top four current boxers.
Craig
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I have not seen too many illegal Filipino's around here, not much to round up.
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All of that money is going back to the family in the Philippines. I know that Montiel is here on an event only visa, as was Manny. Way too many of those illegals in San Leandro. Round them up.
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I doubt he's undocumented. If he was, you should be glad. That's some big time tax revenue he's generating without any benefits to himself.
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Just hoping that he is not an illegal immigrant. Someone ought to check this out.
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I think his family lives in San Leandro. They probably sponsored him. I'm not going to say anything in poor taste about him since you know he just knocked a guy's clock out. I like how my face is arranged.
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Anybody know Nonito's immigration status?
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Hey Steve, no mention of the link between Victor Conte and Nonito. It is a shame that San Leandro continues to be associated with juicers and drugs and illicit activity.
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So is Tavares and Nicky going to lechon a pig?
Manny
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Nonito is a long way from Manny, but nice knockout.
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