Mendoza: Textbook win for Nonito, big scare for Mark

I KNEW I had to accept the invite. How could I decline watching fights featuring the likes of Nonito Donaire Jr. and Mark Magsayo?

For one, the fights, even before pre-bout hype and hoopla could be unleashed, showed sparks of excitement it’d be downright foolish to pass up the chance.

For another, I’d been a keen follower of the two boxers’ careers from Day One. Just by being in the thick of action in their return to the ring would be more than enough for me to—in the words of Mick Jagger—satisfy my imagination.

And so, without any hint of hesitation, I immediately said yes to Mam Lucille Ballori, the fastest gun alive at ALA Promotions, the decades-old stable owned by the father-and-son tandem of Tony nd Mike Aldeguer of Cebu City. Isn’t ALA Promotions famously known to produce world-class boxers, with longest-reigning world champion Donnie Nietes just one of the many in its fold?

“Gladly, I say yes,” I e-mailed Mam Lucille back the minute I read her e-mail.

And so it was that I was in the Queen City of the South last weekend.

A record 30,000 fans trooped to the Cebu Sports Center—proof once more that Cebu is the country’s boxing capital—including Gov. Chavit Singson of Ilocandia, Chairman Richie Garcia of the Philippine Sports Commission, Chairman Juan Ramon R. Guanzon of the Games and Amusements Board and GAB physician Nasser Cruz.

Ah, if Magsayo was magnificent again in notching his 14th straight win (11 KOs), Donaire was likewise brilliant in his 37th victory (24 KOs) to retain his WBO super bantamweight crown.

While Donaire’s third-round knockout of Zsolt Bedak (25-2) was textbook stuff, Magsayo’s sixth-round TKO over American world contender Chris Avalos immediately necessitated a lab test for the Bohol-born, power-hitting dynamo.

The microscope revealed anew Magsayo’s penchant for quick endings, causing him to want to finish off Avalos (26-5, 19 KOs) just at the sound of the starting bell.

The knockdown Magsayo absorbed in the third was a wake-up call. Much to his credit, he survived, recovered resplendently and went on to stop Avalos in the sixth.

“A big heart made me win,” Magsayo said to me moments after the fight.

I believe him. For most 20-year-olds, a tiger’s heart beats.

(alsol47@yahoo.com)