Nonito Donaire v Reymart Gaballo Showtime

Lost in a stacked weekend of boxing the tireless warrior and future HOF'er Donaire makes the first defense of his new 118 trinket he so brutally ripped away from Oubaali earlier in the year. To go down in weight this close to 40 is something you rarely see. Arguably this could easily be Emmanuel Rodriguez getting the shot after his fight with Gaballo :-X. Always a pleasure to watch Donaire work and he should Gaballo up to the task early on but the man is an encyclapedia of deep ring experience. Not much on undercard looks like they'll do another week delayed replay of Tank Davis v Isaac Cruz well worth a first watch. They have this card running until 1am ffs. Hope not.

Nonito Donaire destroyed Reymart Gaballo in 4 rounds.

Donaire is 39 years old and faced an undefeated 25 year. Donaire dominated the fight and landed huge right hands but his left hook is the destructive shot. Donaire landed that to the body and Gaballo could not get up. Vicious puncher but very skillful in setting up that KO.

39 years old and still going strong. I thought he was finished when he lost to Carl Frampton.

Nonito Donaire knocks out Reymart Gaballo to defend WBC bantamweight title

Nonito Donaire showed boxing can still be an old man's game.

Donaire, 39, successfully defended his WBC bantamweight belt with a fourth-round knockout win over Reymart Gaballo on Saturday night in the sparsely filled Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California. In an all-Filipino clash, Donaire scored a victory with a second to spare when he landed a thudding body shot that Gaballo couldn't recover from.

"I've been in this game for such a long time," Donaire said in his postfight interview on Showtime. "I've had so much fight. I came in here and really ... there was nothing [of] feeling out."

Donaire (41-6, 28 KOs) said he was forced to make an adjustment to get the stoppage. With Gaballo neutralizing his left hook early in the fight, Donaire's corner urged him to go to the body.

Donaire heeded the advice to land the eventual knockout punch.

In the closing seconds of the fourth round, Donaire threw a hard left hook to Gaballo's body that forced the previously undefeated challenger to take a knee. Gaballo (24-1, 20 KOs) tried to get up before referee Ray Corona finished the 10-count. But when Gaballo got to his feet, the pain was too much to overcome and he went down for good.

"I thought he was going to get up because I know he has a lot of heart," said Donaire in the postfight interview, adding that Gaballo didn't expect it. "But that was a very tremendous punch that landed on him."

Donaire's victory was his first successful defense of the WBC belt since he upset Nordine Oubaali in May. Donaire had agreed to a unification bout in August against John Riel Casimero, the WBO champion, before that matchup was scrapped over drug testing protocols.

After beating Gaballo, Donaire was asked about a rematch with Naoya Inoue, the WBA and IBF champion who beat Donaire in 2019.

"That's what we're looking for. That's what we're going for, is unification," Donaire told Showtime. "Unified champion of the world."

On the televised undercard, Brandun Lee (24-0, 22 KOs) picked up a seventh-round stoppage over Juan Heraldez (16-2-1, 10 KOs). Cody Crowley (20-0, 9 KOs) earned the biggest win of his pro career with a unanimous decision victory against Kudratillo Abdukakhorov (18-1, 10 KOs).

https://www.espn.co.uk/boxing/story/...amweight-title

I ended up missing nearly all of that awesomeness and yet another pinpoint soul taking hook ko for Nonito. Cable went fubar with weather late and had other stuck streams up. Caught the highlights Inoue rematch likely on deck. He's still capable of doing just as much damage as the first time around and Inoue knows that. Amazing to think it's been 15 years since Nonito sent Vic the Crab Darchinyan out to orbit the Moon off that left hook. Good times. Did manage to catch Cody Crowley whipping on and beating Spence top mandatory Kudratillo Abdukakhorov earlier in great little upset ;D. Had more than a few of those on different levels this year!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oekRasAYFb4

nonito aging like a fine wine. he shouldn't have ever gone above bantam. cody the crippler brings the pressure