General Admission
Donaire disappoints in his Mathebula fight
By Al S. Mendoza
WHILE I wasn’t happy with the result of the Pacquiao-Bradley fight on June 10, I wasn’t also happy with the way Pacquiao fought that day.
Pacquiao clearly won that fight and yet, two of the three judges gave Bradley the nod.
Since the third judge saw Pacquiao the winner, the verdict was a split decision victory for Bradley.
As a result, Pacquiao, an eight-division world champion, is now crownless – a result of his own undoing.
Pacquiao did not fight his usual fight.
He was tentative most of the way.
He seemed lacking in interest in knocking out Bradley.
He had many chances to finish off the American but each time the opportunity presented itself, Pacquiao would balk.
Was Pacquiao off-form that day?
Did he content himself with merely scoring a victory on points?
These are questions that were never answered.
In like manner, this question can never get a clear answer, too: Did Pacquiao take a dive and let Bradley finish the fight in 12 rounds?
The dubiousness of the result had impregnated the fight with so many speculations – mostly, hurtful for Pacquiao.
And then, barely a month after the Pacquiao brouhaha, the Donaire-Mathebula fight came along.
On July 8, Nonito Donaire Jr., dubbed the Filipino Flash, won a unanimous decision victory over Jeffrey Mathebula of South Africa to win both the WBO and IBF bantamweight (122-lb) crowns.
Like in the Pacquiao-Bradley bout, I wasn’t also happy with the way Donaire fought Mathebula.
I am happy that Donaire won because he really won the fight.
In fact, I gave Mathebula only one round (Round 4), after he got decked by a blinding left hook.
I wasn’t completely happy because Donaire failed to finish off Mathebula the explosive way that everybody thought would happen anyways.
Mathebula completed all 12 rounds when he should have ended up in dreamland between the fifth and 12th rounds.
Why Donaire failed to put away Mathebula makes him suspect.
No, not in the context of game-fixing as was seemingly the general consensus arising from the questionable split decision result of the Pacquiao-Bradley fight.
Donaire did not exhibit his old power of knocking out a foe against a visible awkward opponent whose style is more that of a hula-hoop dancer than a grizzled boxer.
While it’s true that the 5-foot-11 Mathebula was taller by five inches, Donaire appeared dominant and dictated the tempo of the fight from Round 1 up to the end.
The trouble with Donaire was he refused to mix it up despite the fact Mathebula’s punches weren’t power-packed.
If Donaire fights the way he did against Mathebula in his future bouts, he’ll just deteriorate as a fighter as ordinary as Pacquiao’s sparmates.
Donaire is 29 already. If he doesn’t watch it, the megabucks he wishes to realize could just go down the drain as quickly as a moth dies in the lamp mishap.
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