Donaire ‘bullets’ too much for foe

CEBU CITY—Fortunately, Nonito Donaire Jr.’s bullet of a left hook did not zap Zsolt Bedak from the boxing ring on Saturday night.

All it did was pierce the Hungarian’s shield, inflicting heavy damage that led to a third-round technical knockout by Donaire, who kept his World Boxing Organization junior featherweight crown before a record crowd of about 20,000 at Cebu City Sports Complex.

Unleashing two crackling coun-ter left hooks, which he likened to “bullets,” Donaire downed and bloodied Bedak twice in the second round, the last just before the bell rang.

Donaire, known as The Filipino Flash, pressed on in the third round, a right straight flooring Bedak anew and forcing referee Russell Mora to cut short the lopsided bout at the 2:44 mark.

As with most of his 37 victories, 24 by knockout, it was Donaire’s left hook, followed by an uppercut which floored Bedak halfway through the second round.

When action resumed, the 33-year-old Donaire decked the game challenger, now 25-2 with 8 KOs, anew with another left hook.

Despite the swift win, the five-time world champion said there’s still room for improvement in his style, noting that he also got hit in the jaw in the first round.

“I know my left hook is stronger than his and I could read his movements,” said Donaire, who spoke in Bisayan.

He dedicated the fight to his father and trainer, Nonito Sr., who earlier predicted that the fight won’t go past six rounds.

Inspired by the huge turnout that surpassed the 15,000 that watched Cebuano Z Gorres lose to Mexican Fernando Montiel in the same venue in 2007, Donaire said he will train even harder to prepare for bigger fights.

Donaire mentioned International Boxing Federation super bantam champion Carl Frampton (22-0, 14 KOs) and 2013  tormentor Guillermo Rigondeaux (16-0, 10 KOs) as probable foes.

In an action-packed undercard, Mark “Magnifico” Magsayo recovered from a third-round knockdown to stop Chris Avalos in the sixth and capture the WBO International featherweight crown.

Magsayo was landing a flurry of punches when referee Danrex Tapdasan stepped in to stop the fight at the 1:55 mark.

The 20-year-old Magsayo stretched his unbeaten run to 14, with 11 knockouts.

Jason Pagara outworked Mexican Miguel Zamudio to win by unanimous decision in their 10-round light welterweight bout. Two judges scored the bout, 98-92, while the third judge saw it 99-91.

The 24-year-old Pagara improved to 38-2 with 23 KOs.

In a battle between two foreigners, Australian Paul Fleming beat Mexican Miguel Angel Gonzales via unimous decision to clinch the World Boxing Council Continental America super feather title.

Among the spectators in the fight card jointly staged by ALA Promotions, ABS-CBN Sports and Top Rank were Antonio Aldeguer and Donnie Nietes, the longest reigning Filipino world champion.