The 'Filipino Flash' Nonito Donaire underlined his place amongst
the pound for pound greats with a ninth round stoppage of Japan's
Toshiaki Nishioka in Carson, California on Saturday night.
Donaire, defending his WBO super-bantamweight crown, dominated
the fight from the first bell and dropped Nishioka with a pair of
lefts in the sixth before finishing things three sessions
later.
The stoppage did at first seem a little harsh. Donaire had sent
the challenger to the seat of his pants with a hard straight right
but he seemed to be ok when referee Raul Caiz Snr intervened.
However, the third man's decision to stop it came because
Nishioka's corner men had begun to enter the ring in order to save
their fighter from further punishment.
"We wanted to use my jab and use my speed. I wanted to open him
up by timing that jab," Donaire, now 30 - 1 (19 KOs), said
afterwards.
"When you engage you open him up and then the demolition man
comes in to knock him out. I got the guy that I thought was best in
the division."
The result meant that Nishioka, who will be known to British
fans from his 2010 fight with Rendall Munroe, lost for the first
time in more than eight years.
14/10/2012 21:14:23