Naoya Inoue defeats Donaire

All day today, I was finding a way to watch the Donaire - Inoue boxing fight.  It was not streamed for free and no news about the championship fight.  Finally after lunch, 6 hours, more or less, it was available on Youtube, luckily, before it was taken off.

In the first 4 or 5 rounds, it seemed that Donaire was getting the upper hand.  Most of the time, Inoue was backing away from him.  Looked like he can't take the punches from Donaire because he had a cut on his right eye.  Several rounds later, Donaire got Inoue in trouble but failed to finish him off.  Compared to Manny Pacquiao who always takes advantage of that opportunity, Donaire does not have that 'killer instinct'.  He relied on that lucky punch or something else that will make him win.

It was simply a dismal performance for Donaire and a really great show for Naoya Inoue.  He really gained my respect on this fight.

Boxing: Naoya Inoue vs Nonito Donaire

The boxing match between Naoya Inoue and Nonito Donaire on November 7, 2019 is something we really look forward to.  Age has it against Donaire but experience has it for him - we saw that in the win of Manny Pacquiao against Thurman.  Many might agree that Pacquiao has better physical conditioning than Donaire.  On the other hand, Naoya Inoue has been impressive on all his fights and was even given some tips by Pacquiao especially when throwing hooks.  In many of Naoya Inoue's fights, his body punches cause his opponents to fall and suffer much, obviously in pain.

The noticeable misgiving of Naoya Inoue is that his guard is always down whenever he goes on a punching barrage.  Once Donaire sees that opening, Naoya Inoue could be in trouble from a power punch from Donaire.  Donaire has powerful punches to the head and body - Naoya Inoue has not shown yet if he can take those easily.  His likes might be the same as that of Amir Khan, Jorge Arce and Darchinyan who were not able to survive Donaire's power punches.

In this fight, I am neutral.  Whoever gets in a significant punch that the other cannot take, wins.  If the fight goes the entire 12 rounds - I will give the win to Donaire.

Top 3 Filipino Boxers

Filipino boxers have had a good showing from the year 2000.  No doubt many would pick Manny Pacquiao as number one because of the several weight divisions he is champion.  On a personal choice, I pick Nonito Donaire for the top Filipino boxer followed by Brian Viloria and third, Manny Pacquiao.

Why?  Nonito Donaire has successfully defended his title and very convincingly won over his opponents.  Most, I believe, did not go the distance.  Brian Viloria lost his one or two earlier 2000 fights but did a very convincing comeback defeating almost all, if not all, that were favored against him.  

Manny Pacquiao holds several titles but his recent fights from 2011 to the present were not convincing, even if he won some of them.  The big difference comparing Donaire and Viloria to Pacquiao is, he (Pacquiao) is too "politicized" and "religionized".  Political and religious people were too quick to pounce on Manny Pacquiao for the money he was making, knocking him out of his focus in boxing.

What politics and religion did to Manny Pacquiao is not crab mentality but actual crab actions pulling down Manny from his achievements.  They made him believe that politics and religion did him well in boxing.