Mismatch of the year

Boxer Nonito Donaire Jr. claimed he had trained hardest and was at his best ever when he clashed against WBA featherweight champion Nicholas Walters on Sunday.

Donaire actually appeared wan and unsure standing beside the perfectly stripped Walters during the weigh-in.

Now, after the Jamaican crown-holder had chopped Donaire down to the floor with a thunderous overhand right in the sixth round, it was readily doubted if the vanquished Filipino could’ve survived even if he had, say, reported for the championship twice as fit as he claimed.

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The WBA featherweight championship was actually tagged a 50-50 bout on the eve of the contest, with some experts suggesting it could be a candidate for Fight of the Year.

The defeat of the 2012 Ring Boxer of the Year was, however, so complete and merciless that the bout, initially billed as a budding great theater, turned into a numbing exhibition of demolition boxing.

Donaire, 31, who had shown clear signs of slippage in his last three bouts prior to the overwhelming test against Walters, 28, was visibly out of it starting the first round, when he received a slicing shot near the ropes and thereby took a knee that got wrongly ruled as a mere slip.

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Donaire did get an ovation despite the shocking defeat, largely due to a display of native gallantry.

In fact, he was able to shake and wobble Walters at the end of the second round with his fabled left hand. But other than that fleeting brilliance, the bout was wholly lopsided.

Walters took control both inside and out with fiery, deliberate punching and superb ring management as he performed like a well-honed agent of destruction.

The magnificent Jamaican, who gleamed like an iron-clad warrior with his chiseled abdominal muscles, was big, strong, sharp, unforgiving in dominating what could easily count as the mismatch of the year.

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At ringside in Carson, California, there was heartwarming ovation for both combatants, the badly beaten Donaire upheld for a great losing stand against a powerful unbeaten foe.

Here at home, the accompanying heartache among Filipino fans was soon overtaken by shock and numbing acceptance of defeat.

Donaire could indeed claim he fought great and lost honorably but, on the whole, what stood out was the pitiful sight of a one-time boxing great crawling on the floor, his proud handsome face bruised and bloodied.

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Out in the streets the morning after, the prevailing cry of the pedestrian was of bitter surrender: “Talo tayo (We lost)!”

People were actually divided on whether to ask Donaire to quit the ring or try again in a lighter division after Walters had supremely confirmed that Donaire, a born flyweight, had no business messing around in the exclusive featherweight neighborhood.

Meanwhile, promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank, feigning amazement while warding off growing charges of mismatching, swore Donaire could have stopped Walters had not the bell saved the magnificent Jamaican at the end of the second round.

Arum got outshot by an unsinkable boxing aficionado who next tweeted: “Rematch!”