The latest ProBoxing-Fans.com’s fantasy fight pits Filipino against Filipino: Pancho Villa vs. Nonito Donaire.
Francisco Guilledo, better known as Pancho Villa (80-5-4, 23 KOs), fought from 1919 to 1925 — with an average of 13 bouts a year — and was never knocked out. He became the first Filipino (and, indeed, the first Asian) to win a world championship. He won the flyweight crown in 1923 by stopping Jimmy Wilde in the seventh.
First-ranked at super bantamweight, and fifth on the pound-for-pound list, Nonito Donaire (30-1-0, 19 KOs) is the reigning WBO and IBF champ. A pro since 2001, his most recent win was by ninth-round TKO of the legendary Toshiaki Nishioka.
But tonight “The Filipino Flash” is fighting fellow countryman Villa — a boxer generally considered to be, along with Wilde, among the top two flyweights of all time.
The Fight — Villa vs. Donaire
Donaire stands in his corner, still as a cat on the hunt. The Garden is awash with Filipino fans, wave upon wave of them. They chant and shout, some for him, some for Villa. Are the spectators evenly divided? Probably, based on what he’s heard over the past months, weeks, days. But it’s impossible to distinguish among them. No matter.
In his mind, he silences them to the rustling of autumn leaves. He focuses on the other man in the ring. He’s tiny! He looks like a boy playing boxer. But Donaire knows this is no pushover. He remembers what Villa did to Wilde — the beating, the boxing lesson. To Wilde! “The Mighty Atom”! One of the greatest flyweights of them all.
It was guts, and only guts, that brought the Welshman to his feet bell after bell. Among the most courageous ring performances on record…but Villa stopped him. And Wilde never fought again.
There’s the bell for round one!
Donaire throws a left-right combination, straight and hard, to the top of Villa’s head. Villa crouches, almost folding onto himself, making himself even smaller and shorter, crossing both arms atop his head. He hits with a left-right combination of his own, making that characteristic boxer’s sound — tchuf! — both blows landing solidly just north and to either side of Donaire’s belly button.
“The Filipino Flash” lets out a whistling hiss as Villa dances to the right, a shot to the ribs. A two-step to the left, and another shot. The hits are clean and hard, like ice water. Donaire sends out a right, straight and down. It smacks just at the corner of Villa’s eye. Within minutes, it will be the size and color of a garden mouse. Villa dances away just as the bell rings.
Both men play it safe in the second round, staying on the outside, throwing sharp jabs that haven’t the slightest chance of connecting. The spectators, who had been on their feet in the first, begin to miss their comfy couches, wondering what’s on the boob tube.
But the third round is a war. Toe-to-toe, Donaire throws wicked combinations to head, face, shoulders. Villa responds with shots to the center — to the stomach, sides, and elbows. By the end of the round, Donaire’s torso is red and covered with welts, but the mouse that had been nestling cozily at Villa’s eye is now a rat — a fat, black rodent, shot through with red. The eye is shuttered.
Despite the damage Villa dished out to Donaire’s body, he can’t manage any more infighting — his opponent’s too big, too strong. Another round like the third, and he’ll be knocked through the canvas. “I’m the smarter one,” thinks Villa. “Thirty some fights? I’ve had three times that number. Time to prove it,” as the bell rings for the fourth.
Donaire is tired, hurt…finish it! He throws a right that brushes his countryman’s hair, like breeze through a field. “Gago!” Timing, timing! Villa sends a short, hard uppercut to Donaire’s right elbow. A slight shift and — bingo! — a right uppercut that started at the hip smashes into Donaire’s chin. Up he goes, like a released balloon, only to crash land where he had stood the second before. Donaire takes the eight, but he’s ready for more. To take or to dish out? The bell sounds.
It’s the fifth, and Donaire feints with his right. Villa moves left and gets smacked high on the cheekbone with a hook. A solid punch, but Donaire no longer has the heat. Villa throws a right that catches Donaire at the upper lip, a feint with his left, another right, and the lower lip breaks open like a rotten egg. Pummeling Donaire with body shots, Villa drives him to the ropes. “The Filipino Flash” throws a right that connects hard between Villa’s shoulder and neck.
But it’s too little…and much too late. Donaire’s lower lip is giving out blood like a pump, and he’s helpless on the ropes. The ref’s blue-sleeved arm comes between the two men, and Nonito Donaire suffers his second defeat and his first KO.
Pancho Villa by fifth-round TKO
