THE RING's #4 pound-for-pound fighter Nonito Donaire Jr. (28-1, 18KO's) made a successful super bantamweight debut by schooling former world title holder Wilfredo Vazquez Jr. (21-2-1, 18KO's) to a twelve round split decision, winning the WBO super bantamweight world title in front of 14,120 fans in the Alamodome in San Antonio, TX. The fight started with both fighters throwing jabs in a feel-out round where both moved and gauged each other's distance. Donaire landed a few flash uppercuts before the round ended.
Round three was all Donaire, as he opened himself up trying to make Vazquez create an opening. Vazquez got caught with a clean punch to the temple then got pounded on in the neutral corner. In round four, a small amount of blood dropped from Donaire's right eye, but the bout was still one-sided in Donaire's favor. His precision and accuracy was evident, hitting Vazquez with clean shots even with just small openings since round two.
Vazquez finally came alive in round five, landing two clean right straights on Donaire. Donaire landed a counter right hook, but the round went to Vazquez, as it was his best round so far. Vazquez looked to be in rhythm in round six, being more active and landing clean punches. He started to land his right straights, while Donaire's timing seemed off, not landing his trademark counter left hooks.
Vazquez made it rough for Donaire In round seven, and was looking better in the last two rounds. The round featured Vazquez trying to pummel Donaire on the inside, but Donaire landed his own clean counter punches along the way before the round ended. Vazquez took the close round.
Donaire was back to his senses in round eight with a little showboating. Like the early rounds, he landed hard counter punches. Vintage Donaire showed up in round nine, dropping Vazquez with a left uppercut and a flash left hook. Donaire remained collected and boxed his way until the end of the round.
A confident Donaire came out in round ten, baiting Vazquez on the ropes trying to make him open up. In the middle of the round, Vazquez had his own moment by landing a series of punches on Donaire, who finished the round strong by dancing and landing flush shots on Vazquez.
Donaire landed a good combination early in a not so action-packed round eleven. He jabbed his way to win the round. Vazquez stepped up the pressure in round twelve, but he wasn't landing much. Donaire finished the round by leaning on the ropes and landing speedy combinations on Vazquez.
My scorecard: 117-110 Donaire.
There was a slight moment of worry, or should I say disgust, when it was announced that one of the judges scored the fight 115-112 for Vazquez. The other two had it 117-110 for Donaire, earning him a split decision victory.
"Vasquez was tougher than expected, I couldn't find my rhythm" said Donaire of his performance. He then revealed a swelling and bloodied left hand after taking his gloves off. "I think it happened from the second to the fourth round," he explained. The win propelled Donaire to a three-division world champion, having won three legitimate world titles at 112, 118 and 122 (the title he held at 115 was an interim).
"I was really looking for a knockout because he disrespected my country, my people, my guys and my wife," Donaire later announced on his facebook fan page, referring to the pre-fight assaults Vazquez and his camp dished out on Twitter, going as far as making a #stupidphilippines hash tag. Vazquez may have done it to gain all the confidence he needed, but in the famous words of Floyd Mayweather, "His mouth can write a check but his ass can't cash"
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