NONITO Donaire Jr. took less time to take out the game but brittle challenger from Hungary.
Donaire had vowed to stop Zsolt Bedak in six rounds for the defense of his WBO super bantamweight title at Cebu City Sports Center on Saturday.
Bedak, nose broken and bloodied, was counted out on his feet in the third round. He was on the floor a couple of times in the second round.
Donaire managed to deliver the promised fireworks, although he also scolded himself for getting a big punch on the chin early in the well-attended open-air main event.
* * *
With that short work, the main event was readily outshone by the top supporting bout which featured the fast-rising Mark Magpayo, a native of Tagbilaran, Bohol, who’s now the hottest warrior of the famed ALA Stable in Cebu.
In the prefight press conference, Magpayo, 20, had been described as nothing more than a young boy by his grizzled foe, the internationalist Chris Avalos from California.
The unbeaten Magpayo stopped the 25-year-old Avalos in the sixth round, but only after having had to get up and recover from a third-round shakedown.
* * *
Magpayo would explain that he got groggy, but he prayed hard and tried to get back.
There was no surrender in his eyes, noted Magpayo’s chief handler, Edmund Villamor.
Handlers and admirers were one in saying Magpayo was saved by his big heart.
* * *
Make that read: A big brave heart; Magpayo, indeed, waged battle like a mindless small boy.
If great grit and guts carried Magpayo through, his glaring defects, mainly in defense, cast a doubt on his ability to go really far—unless he first undergoes serious reformation.
Magpayo, for most of his big Saturday night out, was a predictable slugger, who had to second-guess the target of his looping punches.
* * *
Pardon this, but there were dumb Magsayo exertions that resembled primitive warrior moments. Needless to say, there’s a need for regrooving, while there’s still time.
They should pause and review everything in a scientific and sane manner.
* * *
It would be great if they, say, started the repair and reshaping now.
However, Magpayo has reportedly been booked for a big outing in the United States next September.
Hope and pray he doesn’t get a foe who’d make him perform like a sinking aspirant who never hesitates to bite the opponent’s gloves.
He can’t go on fighting the way he did on Saturday.