Fire Quinito rounds up all the must-read links about Nonito Donaire’s sensational win over Fernando Montiel, so you can have more time to marvel at Maria Aragon’s angelic voice.



Kevin Iole, Yahoo! Sports: “One long-time occupant of the top spot in boxing’s mythical pound-for-pound list said he believes a pair of Filipinos should sit atop the current rankings. But former champion Roy Jones Jr. said he’s not sure if it’s Manny Pacquiao or his countryman, Nonito Donaire Jr., who should be ranked first now. ‘I saw this kid on TV a couple of years ago and I picked him out then,’ said Jones, the long-time pound-for-pound who served as a color analyst for HBO on Saturday. ‘To be honest with you, there’s an argument whether he’s No. 1 or No. 2. I see (Donaire) doing things I don’t see many fighters do. He uses his feet first and his hands second.’”

Chris Cozzone, Fight News: “‘The Darchinyan punch was pretty sweet, but this was the hardest punch of my career,’ newly-crowned WBO/WBC Bantamweight Champion Nonito Donaire said at tonight’s post-fight press conference. ‘I was so surprised he got up – I put everything behind that punch. It was the hardest one I ever threw in my life.’”

Carlos Acevedo, The Cruelest Sport: “It is almost impossible to prepare yourself for the kind of speed, athleticism, and power Donaire combines in a single, breathtaking package. Whatever flaws he has are nearly impossible to exploit because of his meteoric quickness and reflexes.”

Scott Christ, Bad Left Hook: “For a long time, many of us questioned Donaire’s standing as a top P4P fighter by The Ring and other outlets. It wasn’t his talent that was questioned, but whether or not his resume backed the standing. There’s no more of that now. He looks phenomenal whenever he faces his best opponents, and there can be no more question of whether or not he’s as good as the hype. That’s my opinion, anyway. Any questions remaining were answered tonight.”

Michael Rosenthal, The Ring: “The even-more astonishing aspect of the moment was who Donaire knocked out. This was no chump. This was one of the best fighters in the world, a tested veteran who is rated No. 7 on THE RING’s Top 10 pound-for-pound list and had lost only two close decisions in his career. And Donaire dismissed him with a single punch, one that rivals Pacquiao’s one-punch, second-round KO of Ricky Hatton in 2009. On top of that, it was Donaire’s second consecutive other-worldly performance. In his last fight, he dominated former titleholder Wladimir Sidorenko before stopping him in the fourth round in December. In short, this little fighter from the San Francisco Bay area has become much like Pacquiao, a tour de force who reduces elite opponents to pitiful victims and thrills the fans at the same time.”

Alex McClintock, The Queensberry Rules: “The only conclusion that you can draw from this short fight is that Donaire is a legitimate, scary, elite level boxer. His high place in some people’s pound for pound lists is completely justified. He made easy, short work of Montiel, himself a P4P guy.”

Dan Rafael, ESPN: “With the booming knockout, Donaire won a title in a third weight class and gave the Philippines another victory in its burgeoning boxing rivalry with Mexico. Donaire was a longtime flyweight champion -- the same division where Pacquiao began his historic run -- and also had won an interim junior bantamweight belt. But he had outgrown the 115-pound division and moved up to bantamweight in December, where he crushed former titlist Wladimir Sidorenko in four rounds to send a message to the division. He sent another one against Montiel, who wound up in the hospital as a precaution after such a thudding knockout.”

Steve Carp, Las Vegas Review-Journal: “Montiel went down as if he had been shot. His legs were twitching as Donaire jumped up and down in triumph in a neutral corner while the crowd of 4,805 roared. Somehow, Montiel beat the 10 count. He got up and tried to continue, but Donaire swarmed him. Mora stopped the fight at the 2:25 mark after it was clear Montiel no longer could defend himself.”

Jake Donovan, Boxing Scene: “Montiel waited more than four years to return to [HBO], building up a 12-fight unbeaten streak in the process. The fight with Donaire came on the heels of a Fighter of the Year-level campaign in 2010, scoring four knockouts in as many fights, including a highlight reel fourth-round knockout of Hozumi Hasegawa to unify two belts at bantamweight. All of that goes out of the window, as it’s now Donaire who sits atop the bantamweight division while awaiting his next challenge.”

Mark Lorenzana, Pinoy Fight Scribe: “So what’s next for Donaire? If he wants to, he could wait for the winner of the bantamweight tournament featuring Yonnhy Perez, Joseph ‘King Kong’ Agbeko, Abner Mares, and Darchinyan. But, and I’m echoing the sentiments of Top Rank’s top honcho Bob Arum here, Donaire will just be too strong, too fast, too big, too powerful, and too skilled for any of those guys. Donaire could also climb up to super bantamweight and (even up to featherweight) to challenge the big boys.”

Carlo Pamintuan, GMA News Online: “It is already a minor tragedy that the two biggest wins of Donaire’s career came four years apart. After beating Darchinyan, his career should have sky-rocketed. But the big names in his division avoided him like the plague. Who can blame them? No one wants to face a lanky heavy-handed switch-hitter who has tremendous hand and foot speed. Because no one of worth wanted to face him, Donaire was stuck. He knew he was good enough to be one of the finest fighters in the sport, but he never had the opportunity to prove it. Thankfully, Montiel gave him the opportunity. And boy, did Donaire take advantage of it.”