Pre-Fight Analysis: Montiel vs. Donaire

For those having a hard time deciding betting between Nonito “The Filipino Flash” Donaire and Fernando Montiel, better know the facts before you aimlessly drop your money on online casinos and end up wagering on the wrong guy.

Fernando Montiel is the champion of their upcoming bout, with his WBO super flyweight on the line. Entering the fight with a record of 38-2-1, Montiel is making the eight title defense against Donaire, the reigning IBF flyweight champion. Montiel has already defeated elite Filipino fighters, a third round stoppage of Roy Dolinguez and a split decision win over Z Gorres.

Nonito Donaire is coming off from two successful title defenses of his IBF crown against Luis Maldonado and Moruti Mthalane of South Africa. Donaire will be climbing a division, expressing his difficulty maintaining within the 112 limit. Donaire is best remembered as the one who knocked then undefeated and reigning IBF flyweight champion Vic Darchinyan with a well-placed and timed counter left hook.

From this standpoint, both fighters have a lot to offer. While the odds are still hazy, Donaire is the concensus underdog with less experience than Montiel.

Battle of The Bantamweights A Big Disappointment

Last Saturday saw Filipino pugilists successfully took out their opponents in convincing fashion at the Cebu City Coliseum. Led by reigning WBO Bantamweight Champion Gerry Penalosa, “The Battle of the Bantamweights” revealed promising boxers from the southern regions of the Philippines. Penalosa won a unanimous decision against German "Panteonero" Meraz of Mexico, improving his stellar record to 54-6-2, with 36 KOs.

Rolando "Smooth Operator" Magbanua’s fight with Mexican Jose Angel "Bocho" Cota ended with Magbanua winning a TKO in the 6th. Cota was bloodied early from the third and was unable to fend off the Filipino. Magbanua’s record now stands at 14-0, with 9 KOs. Glen Porras of Mindanao knocked Thailand’s Daothon Sithsoey in the first round, raising the Filipino’s record to 21-3, with 13 KOs.

While many Filipinos celebrated the feats of the young Filipino sluggers, some are not convinced or even entertained (writer included). While it is quite understandable that handlers pick opponents whom their boxers can handle, fans want to see boxers really duke it out. What transpired in the “The Battle of the Bantamweights,” or at least in some of the bouts, is that Filipino boxers were facing inferior opponents.

I do not hold anything against Filipino boxers, as they do fight with all that they got. However, we the fans want our boxers be slated against those who can punch back while taking hard punches.

Penalosa’s win did not cast any doubt on the veteran’s boxing skills, as he has proven himself as one of the elite boxers in the country. But would you rather see Penalosa continuously chase down his opponent? From where I sit or stand, Meraz was in the ring to survive all 12 rounds and running seemed to be his strategy of choice.

While this was a tune-up game for Penalosa’s upcoming bout against a much more dangerous fighter in Juan Manuel Lopez, I believe boxing fans did not wish to spend their hard-earned money just to watch a glorified sparring session.

Porras’ match with Sithsoey also proved to be a disappointing card. Anyone can deduce that Porras has considerable amount of punching power, but why chose a nobody from Thailand to face him? Heck, even the boxing analysts that night were not sure of the Thai’s professional record. Why not someone who can take a hit and still come forward just to prove how tough Porras is?

A win is worth celebrating. I can ride that. But promoters and handlers should pick quality opponents for their boxers to give them valuable experience and lessons they could use when it’s time for them to fight in bigger fights.

Congratulations, still, are in order.

Pacquiao Clear Favorite To Win in May 2

With the Hatton-Pacquiao mega bout looming in the horizon, it’s high time for bettors to know the odds as early as now, with the details straight from casino bookmakers and reputed betting sites.

From any standpoint, Pacquiao is the heavy favorite to win the May 2 fight with a huge disparity. Bookmaker William Hill has Pacquiao leading the odds with an 8/15 mark, while odds for Hatton is valued at 9/5.

In Las Vegas, casino bookmakers and betting agencies has Pacquiao as the -200 favorite. That means a $200 bet on Pacquiao would win $100. On the other hand, the Manchester native is the +160 underdog, which means a $100 wager on Hatton can generate $160 in wins.

Clearly, many see Pacquiao winning the fight with Hatton, but bettors would not yield as much as Hatton’s betting fans should the British wins their 12-round title bout for the Briton’s IBF junior welterweight belt come May 2.

Penalosa To Lead Filipino Sluggers in Battle of The Bantamweights

February 21 will be a great day for Philippine boxing’s rising stars as Gerry Penalosa and other Filipino sluggers will duke it out for boxing titles against their rivals in the “Battle of The Bantamweights.”

The main event will have former WBC super flyweight champion, former WBF super flyweight champion, and current WBO bantamweight champion Gerry Penalosa (53-6-2, 36 KOs) slugging it out with Mexico’s German "Panteonero" Meraz (20-11-2, 8 KOs). The 10-round match will be a tune-up fight for Penalosa who is slated to face Puerto Rico's Juan Manuel Lopez (24-0, 22 KOs), holder of the WBO super bantamweight belt, who is a dangerous fighter packing power punches in both hands.

Penalosa, according to renowned trainer Freddie Roach, is by far the best boxer that came from the Philippines in terms of technical mastery of the sport. A defensive fighter with a knack for destructive counterpunching, Penalosa is the favorite to win the upcoming match against Meraz.

Featured in the undercard are the top bantamweights from Mindanao: Rolando "Smooth Operator" Magbanua (13-0, 8 KOs) will go against Jose Angel "Bocho" Cota of Mexico for the WBO Interim Bantamweight championship; Jundy "Pretty Boy" Maraon (12-0-1, 9 KOs) will exchange leather with fellow Filipino Jason Igera for his WBO Asia Pacific belt; while Glenn "The Rock" Porras (20-3, 12 KOs) and Thailand's Daothon Sithsoey are to best each other out in a non-title fight.

Small Man Nate Robinson Wins Big

If you don’t believe man can fly, then better look out for Nate Robinson. He’s 5’7 and he just topped other slam dunkers in the land. WOW. The New York Knicks guard just notched the NBA All-Star Slam Dunk championship against esteemed dunker Dwight Howard of Orlando Magic, whom he dunked over.

From a basketball purist’s point of view, all Nate did was old-school dunks that were done by many before him. But still, a dunk is a dunk and if it’s Nate Robinson doing it, expect the whole world to be mesmerized.(actually, fans all over the world were divided, with 52% of the votes going for Nate, while 48% went to Dwight). By the way, nice kicks, Nate.

Congratulations to the Shaq, Kobe, and the rest of the Western Conference All-Stars for winning the 2008 All-Star Weekend in Phoenix, Arizona. Congratulations to both guys for winning the MVP accolades.

Here’s the video of Nate’s winning dunks:

Why Darchinyan Must Face Donaire

I want to see Vic “Raging Bull” Darchinyan go up against Nonito “The Filipino Flash” Donaire one more time. And it is just the right thing to do. Darchinyan, whose record now stands at 32-1-1, with 26 KOs, have rebounded beautifully from the loss he suffered from Donaire, whose brother Glenn he defeated prior to their fight. But a loss is still a loss and his is still unavenged.

Donaire, the reigning IBF and IBO world flyweight champion with a record of 20-1, 13 KOs, did not have much fights and only defended his title twice after his stoppage of Darchinyan– first against Luis Maldonado of Mexico and Moruti Mthalane. Donaire is currently preparing against Montiel.

Darchinyan has bested a lot of world-class fighters and his recent victims include Cristian Mijares and Jorge Arce., both of whom suffered terrible beating from the Australian-Armenian. With the win, Darchinyan now is the holder of the WBC and WBA super flyweight championship and the IBF Junior Bantamweight championship. But the fact that he has to settle a score with Donaire has left a chapter unclosed for Darchinyan.

Get Donaire and Darchinyan together again – this is the shoutout from most boxing fans who love to see a good fight from two of boxing’s exciting fighters. Sadly, promoters are meddling with what the fans want. Gary Shaw, Darchinyan’s promoter, was fired by Donaire after the latter didn’t get shots against other champions of the flyweight division. Shaw said that a rematch between the two is farfetched, revealing that issues between him and Donaire are the major reasons why a second match between the two is unlikely to happen.

I wonder whether Darchinyan gets through a day without thinking of avenging his loss to Donaire or he has nightmares of that counter left hook. That loss, I believe, still haunts Darchinyan and the only way to get out of it is to face Donaire one more time.

If Darchinyan is a true champion, then he must pursue Donaire and give him a beating. This desire should not be for the money, but for personal vindication and reestablishment that he is the best in the lower weight classes.

PACMAN VS HITMAN

And so the fight is one. After a series of negotiations on profit shares and venues, the Pacquiao-Hatton mega bout is a go. Dubbed “The Battle of East and West,” this fight features two brawlers who love to go head on and punch their opponents to a bloody pulp.

But apart from their exciting styles, both men also carry a huge fan base. Pacquiao, as usual, shoulders the hope and honor of a nation; Hatton has the full support of British fans behind him. So clearly, it’s not just Pacquiao and Hatton who will duke it out on May 2 in Las Vegas – fans will outshout, outdo, and out-everything other fans.

The trainers of both fighters also border on the legendary. Freddie Roach and Floyd Mayweather, Sr. have both produced champions. And both Pacquiao and Hatton are great champions with excellent pedigree. But the truth of the matter is that whoever wins the fight will bring their trainer to an even higher plane of boxing’s greatest trainers.

“The Battle of East and West” is truly a fight that has a “Classic” word already stamped on it. For Pacquiao and Hatton, besting each other will clearly solidify their status and raise their boxing careers on an even higher level than it is now.

History Did Not Favor Federer

Roger Federer gave tennis his everything. Saying that he fell short on his recent defeat against Rafael Nadal would be an insult. He did not fell short. Federer was just on his way out, passing the torch to his successor.

Most of us (writer included) wanted to see Federer win it one more time. Just one more notch under his belt. And admiringly, he braved where other would have easily faltered and gave Nadal a match to remember. Of course, it was Nadal who proved to be the better player in their recent encounters.

I wouldn’t say that Nadal is now the best tennis player there is. That accolade is still reserved for the great Pete Sampras. But with his relentless to break even the top-ranking players’ mindset and his refusal to give in to defeat makes Nadal an elite player in the upper echelons of tennis. At the age of 22, his achievements are now bordering over the legendary. If he goes on like this, then there would be no doubt he will take the best player mantle from Sampras.

In ending, I would like to thank Roger Federer for giving us a good show and God bless Rafael Nadal’s career.