Nonito Donaire admitted after the fact that he had trouble finding his challenger Reymart Gaballo on Saturday night in Carson, California.
Of course, it’s nothing like an unsolvable big punch.
Donaire, the 39-year-old WBC bantamweight belt holder, stopped a capable fighter 14 years his junior with a vicious perfect left hook with just a second left in the fourth round of his defense. his first belt.
The win brought him one step closer to realizing his end-of-career goal: To become the undisputed 118-pound champion.
Donaire (42-6, 28 KOs) actually had some trouble with Gaballo (24-1, 20 KOs) before overtime.
The champion’s Filipino teammate hit the box carefully and well, which made it difficult for Donaire to hit the right punches. And Gaballo, perhaps quicker than Donaire, launched enough shots of his own to make the fight competitive.
However, Donaire began to assert himself in the 3rd round, when he landed very hard on the right hand. And he moved on to the next round, in which he caught Gaballo with more rights.
Then, with about 15 seconds left in round 4, Gaballo throws a punch and Donaire responds with a monster hit to his opponent’s right side and he falls to his knees. Gaballo stood up at the count of 8 but still in pain, he winced, turned down and was counted out.
The official time is 2:59 of Round 4.
“My wife [and fitness trainer] and dad said, “Go to the body, come to the body,” said Donaire. “I have to set it up by bouncing up and down and from left to right until I open my body. Then I grounded the left hook. …
“A lot of it was the boxing during the previous rounds and then the left hook to the body [landed] because he didn’t expect that from me. ”
Did Donaire think the war was over by then?
“I think he’ll stand up because I know he’s got a big heart,” he said. “But it was a very terrible punch to him.”
Donaire now has a bigger goal of winning all four bantamweight belts.
His team title holders were John Riel Casimero of the Philippines (WBO) and Naoya Inoue (IBF and WBC), who overtook Donaire in a tough, competitive defense before Donaire knocked out Nordine Oubaali to Win the title in May.
Donaire is keen to get another shot at Inoue, assuming the Japan star beats Aran Dipaen this coming Tuesday in Tokyo.
“It was the job of Richard Schaefer, my promoter,” he said. “Me and Inoue have always respected each other. … I believe Richard will do it, no doubt. ”
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At the bottom, underdog Brandun Lee (24-0, 22 KOs) of La Quinta, California, stopped Juan Heraldez (16-2-1, 10 KOs) of Las Vegas in the seventh round of 10. expected.
And Cody Crowley (20-0.9 KO) of Peterborough, Ontario, Canada survived a knockdown against longtime rival Kudratillo Abdukakhorov (18-1, 10 KOs) of Uzbekistan by a unanimous decision in the match. lasting 10 rounds.
The scores were 98-91, 97-92 and 95-94.
