Former five-division world champion Nonito Donaire of
the Philippines showed he was back to his very best
with a sensational second-round stoppage of France’s
Anthony Settoul in Macau on Saturday.
The 2012 Fighter of the Year improved his record to
35 wins and three defeats (23 KOs) and is now in
line for another world title crack, probably for the
WBA super bantamweight belt against Britain’s
Scott Quigg in Dubai later this year.
The classy and powerful “Filipino Flash” soon had
the Frenchman (20-4, 8 KOs) in trouble in the
opening round of their scheduled 10-round super
bantamweight fight with stunning body shots that
twice dropped him to his knees.
In the second round more telling punches to the
diaphragm were followed with a bone-shaking right
cross to the chin that put Settoul down once more.
Although he bravely managed to just beat the count
he was visibly unsteady on his feet, staggering
backwards across the ring as his corner threw in
the towel to save him from further punishment with
1min 41sec gone in the second.
“We worked really hard for this fight and I did
everything I needed to do,” said a barely sweating
Donaire afterwards.
“I wanted to set him up with the body shots and
finish it from there.”
Two other fighters had very easy nights as their
opponents quit in confusing and slightly
unsatisfactory fashion.
American-based Russian Denis Shafikov enjoyed an
easy win when his Indonesian lightweight opponent
Roy Mukhlis decided he no longer wanted to
continue halfway through the third round.
Former US Olympian Jose Ramirez had a facile win
after also travelling halfway around the world to the
southern Chinese city when his Japanese opponent
Ryusei Yoshida quit on his stool at the start of the
fourth round.
Ramirez (15-0, 12 KOs) was awarded a technical
knockout in an anti-climactic end to the junior
welterweight contest after catching Yoshida with
several heavy shots towards the end of the third
round.
Chinese fight fans earlier had plenty to be delighted
about at Cotai Arena.
There was a stirring display by local favourite
“Macau Kid” Kuok Kun Ng who knocked out
awkward southpaw Phompetch Twins Gym two
minutes into the fourth round of their welterweight
contest.
“KK” as he is known took his record to 8-0 (4 KOs)
when he landed a peach of a right uppercut on the
Thai southpaw who was out even before he hit the
canvas.
And the super flyweight “Wonder Kid” Rex Tso from
nearby Hong Kong continued his march towards a
world title shot by taking his record to 17-0 (10
KOs) with a fourth-round stoppage of Thailand’s
Khunkhiri Wor Wisaruth.
It appeared the referee may have stepped in a little
early to save Wisaruth (21-12-1, 14 KOs) from
further punishment, but the heavy-punching Tso
was dominating the fight and the outcome was
inevitable.
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