Nonito Donaire vs Luis Maldonado

Nonito Donaire retained his IBF and IBO world flyweight titles by stopping Luis Maldonado after one minute and sixteen seconds of the eighth round at Foxwoods Resort, Mashantucket, Connecticut, on Saturday, December 1, 2007. Making his first defence, the Filipino champion established an early advantage with fast, accurate punching, knocked Maldonado down near the end of the seventh and forced referee Charles Dwyer to intervene in the following round. The challenger remained standing at the finish but was taking sustained punishment against the ropes. Both men had weighed 111 pounds for the scheduled twelve-round contest.

The defence followed Donaire’s fifth-round victory over Vic Darchinyan at Bridgeport on July 7, when a counter left hook had brought him the championships. Maldonado had also challenged Darchinyan, losing in the eighth round in June 2006, but had since returned to winning form. His experience included a draw with Cristian Mijares, and his ability to change stance offered a different problem from the one Donaire had solved against Darchinyan. The bout formed part of a Gary Shaw Productions card televised by Showtime, with Antonio Tarver facing Danny Santiago and Vernon Forrest defending against Michele Piccirillo in the other featured contests.

Donaire began promptly, throwing a hard left hook before settling into work from outside with jabs and right hands. His speed troubled Maldonado immediately. A counter caught the challenger, and Donaire followed with a right and left uppercut as Maldonado struggled to establish his own rhythm. In the second, the champion’s right hand became particularly effective. He landed repeatedly, added the left hook and left Maldonado bleeding heavily from the brow. The challenger’s corner worked on the damage between rounds, but the bleeding continued to complicate his task. Donaire maintained his advantage through the third, landing the cleaner punches while Maldonado relied on his durability to remain in the exchanges.

Maldonado’s best recovery began in the fourth. Switching to southpaw, he found more opportunities to answer and landed a hard right hook that checked the champion’s progress. Donaire’s pace eased, allowing the challenger to put punches together rather than spend the entire round responding. The champion nevertheless continued looking for hooks and straight rights, and finished one exchange with a firm body punch. Maldonado had made the contest more competitive, but had not removed the danger posed by Donaire’s quicker counters. His forward movement brought him within range of the same punches he needed to avoid.

The fifth and sixth were less one-sided than the early rounds. Maldonado continued from the southpaw stance, landing occasional straight lefts as Donaire carried his left hand low and appeared to conserve his effort. The champion answered with crisp left hooks, while the challenger kept advancing despite the blood around his eyes. In the sixth, Maldonado again fought back after taking heavy punches, preventing Donaire from bringing the contest to an immediate conclusion. Don Trella awarded that round to the challenger, although Clark Sammartino and George Smith continued to favour the champion. Donaire remained well ahead, but Maldonado’s persistence obliged him to keep working for openings.

The decisive opening came late in the seventh. Donaire’s corner called for him to feint and counter, and he responded by drawing Maldonado into range before landing the left hook. An uppercut was also reported in the sequence that preceded the fall. Maldonado went down in the closing seconds, rose to continue and reached the end of the round. The knockdown made an already substantial deficit still greater. After seven completed rounds, Sammartino and Smith each had Donaire ahead 70-62, while Trella scored it 69-63. The difference reflected Trella’s award of the sixth to Maldonado; all three officials recorded the seventh for Donaire with the knockdown.

Maldonado was examined before the eighth and allowed to continue, but Donaire resumed his attack. A straight right through the guard hurt the challenger and brought a sustained follow-up. Donaire pursued him towards the ropes, delivering punches from both hands while Maldonado struggled to produce an effective reply. The challenger’s resistance kept him upright, but it no longer provided a reason to prolong the contest. Dwyer moved between them at 1:16, ending the defence by technical knockout. Donaire had followed the seventh-round knockdown with a separate finishing attack in the eighth, rather than requiring another fall to secure the stoppage.

Afterwards, Donaire acknowledged difficulties of his own. He had hurt his left hand during the contest and said his legs had felt stiff and sluggish through the middle rounds, leaving him to rely more heavily on hand speed and punching power. He praised Maldonado’s toughness and expressed interest in unifying the flyweight championships, naming WBC titleholder Daisuke Naito and WBA champion Takefumi Sakata as prospective opponents. Against Maldonado, his fast start, accurate counters and controlled finishing attack had secured a successful first defence, despite the challenger’s determined recovery through the middle of the fight.

I liked this because Donaire showed the Darchinyan knockout wasn’t his only trick. Maldonado had experience, kept coming through the cuts and changed stance to make Nonito work. I rated Donaire’s sharp, accurate counters more than his power. He got caught when he became loose, but Luis couldn’t match his speed. The feint and left hook dropped Maldonado late in the seventh. Nonito finished him standing in the eighth. I respect that toughness, but the stoppage was right. Courage kept Maldonado competing; it wasn’t protecting him from those clean punches.