Duterte is like Donaire, Magsayo & Pacquiao

By Al S. Mendoza

 

RODRIGO Duterte has become a combination of Nonito Donaire Jr. and Mark Magsayo.  OK, include Manny Pacquiao.

Like Donaire, Duterte is capable of coming up with deadly combinations that could easily floor an opponent.

Give him an opening and, like Donaire, Duterte could whip a foe in an instant.  Lightning-quick when he does it, we love to say.

Donaire proved that again on Saturday, April 23.

In less than 6 minutes, Donaire stopped Zsolt Bedak, the Hungarian Olympian.

Before he got decked three times—twice in the second, once in the third that ended the fight—Bedak lost just one fight in a decent 25-1 mark.

Bedak had the courage—and I admire him for that—to engage Donaire in a rumble right from the opening bell.

You just can’t do that against a fighter like Donaire who, like Duterte, simply loves action-packed encounters.

Thus, when Donaire is provoked, he, like Duterte, doesn’t simply back down.

As in a street fight, Donaire took Bedak’s challenge with calculated aggression and quickly disposed of the challenger with devastating left hooks and right uppercuts.

The win saw Donaire retain his WBO world super bantamweight title while improving his record to 37-3, with 24 knockouts.

For Magsayo, he punctuated his victory over Chris “The Hitman” Avalos, the tough Californian known for his rock-hard fists, with courage and a survival instinct rarely seen from a 20-year-old upstart.

Almost on the verge of disposing Avalos in the second with jarring flurries to the face, Magsayo was knocked down in the third.

But just when everybody thought his winning streak would finally end on his 14th fight, Magsayo rebounded mightily.

After recovering his bearings with a hitch-free defense in the fourth, Magsayo was back to pummeling ways and Avalos leaned on the round-ending bell to escape from a knockout in the fifth.

However, Avalos stayed on borrowed time and, with just 1:55 gone in the 6th round, he was waived out as referee Danrex Tapdasan saved him from further harm amid Magsayo’s unrelenting brutal blasts.

I was right there at ringside during the fights in Cebu City’s Cebu Sports Center and both fights quickly transported me to Duterte’s world:  Dogged determination to win against all odds.

And, yes, I said Duterte can also be a fighter a la Pacquiao:  Dramatic, passionate and always full of hope and inspiration if only to make the people happy.

Both Pacquiao and Duterte had also encountered turbulence with their public statements that proved controversial (Pacquiao on same-sex marriage, Duterte rape joke).

But they survived the backlash with flying colors.

Seemingly now, they are on the path to victory in the May 9 polls—Pacquiao as senator, and Duterte successor of P-Noy.

In this country, indeed, politics and boxing do mix.

(For your comments and reactions, please email to: punch.sunday@gmail.com)

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