Fantasty Fight Series: Fenech vs Donaire

By Chris Williamson, @Chris_v2boxing.

Sometimes in boxing, the 'little guys' of the lower weight classes just don't get the attention they deserve, so I thought I'd ponder how a potential match up between two of my favourite little guys of all time might pan out. Let's take Nonito Donaire, consistently ranked between 2007 and 2013 as one of the ten best pound for pound fighers in the world, and pit him against Australian terror Jeff Fenech, a former world champion at Bantamweight, Super-Bantamweight and Featherweight and a fighter who I believe is quite underrated in a historical sense. Appreciate that Donaire's story is still running as of 2014, but a comprehensive defeat against Guillermo Rigondeaux, a slightly fortunate from behind win against a shopworn Vic Darchinyan (a much better and fresher version of whom had already been hammered by Donaire six years earlier) and a dull, unsatisfactory technical decision win over Simpiwie Vetyeka lead me to believe that Donaire may soon be on his way out - so let's give him some focus while he's still here to be appreciated.

The Rigondeaux loss, while seen as a big stick to beat Donaire with recently, can pretty much be discounted for this debate, in my view. Rigondeaux, who beat Donaire with mastery of range / distance, slick defensive moves and crisp counter-punching couldn't be any more different in style than Fenech, who was known as the 'Marrickville Mauler' for good reason. A rough (and sometimes outright dirty) handful in the ring, Fenech didn't know the meaning of letting the other man come to him and was a pheonomenally well-conditioned athlete, who worked at a pace that most fighters would struggle to maintain for three rounds over the course of the full twelve.

Donaire, who throws a lot less than Fenech but is more accurate and more of a genuine one-punch knockout artist with the shots he does let go, is happy to let the other man come at him, which is why this would be such a great match up - they both do what the other will be hoping they'd do, but they're both supreme at doing it.

Fenech possessed a work rate and stamina which few, if any at all, have ever matched in the whole of boxing history. His fights against Steve McCrory, Daniel Zaragoza and Marcos Villasana are all prime examples of this. If you could keep Fenech on the outside, he could be vulnerable to the jab and look a little unsure - but keeping him there proved just about impossible for anyone until the great Azumah Nelson trounced him in eight rounds in their 1992 rematch, although in fairness to Fenech he had dominated Nelson in their initial Las Vegas bout a year before, only for the judges to conspire against him and award a fraudulent draw, which was a great injustice.

When inside, his style was to unload relentless combinations. For a fighter lacking classical technique, he had surprising accuracy and could be hard to hit on his way in, though he attacked so frequently that he always shipped a bit of leather. His chin was good, though not quite from the absolute top plate - McCrory and Zaragoza both stunned him, and Samart Payakaroon, from whom Fenech took the WBC Super-Bantamweight belt in 1987 (his second world title in what was considered an upset at the time) put him down for an early count - true to his irresistible form at the time, Fenech got back up and flattened the Thai in the fourth.

Donaire is not an inside fighter, so his mission has to be stopping Fenech from getting there. Good boxers and heavy hitters such as Victor Callejas couldn't do it, but Donaire hits even harder than someone such as Callejas, and also has exceptional timing with his shots as fighters come towards him. His brutal one-punch knockouts of Darchinyan and Fernando Montiel (although Montiel beat his initial count, the left hook which downed him was effectively match point). Both were with the left hand, and both showed his ability to make late adjustements with his feet to plant himself for the big shot, even if he has been guilty of standing flat footed in fights where he action is at mid range rather than in close.

So we've got Fenech setting the pace and weaving his way inside with his box of dirty tricks and relentless punch output, and Donaire sitting back, letting him come to him and trying to time him on his way in with one of his impeccable counter hooks.

Personally, I lean slightly towards Fenech in this battle. As a slightly bigger man than Donaire (had he not been robbed against Nelson first time out, he'd have added a title at Super-Featherweight, whereas Donaire, despite currently being the WBA Featherweight champion, hasn't quite looked the same any higher than Bantamweight) I think the Australian could just about stand up to the power of the Filipino, although he may have to recover from a knockdown at some stage as he did against Payakaroon. I think Fenech would be vulnerable early, but he had the knack of getting better and better as fights went on.

Donaire has always had a tendency to get a little too reliant on his power, sometimes neglecting his own boxing skills, particularly his jab which he's never utilised enough. If Fenech stands up to his power coming in, I can see Donaire running out of ideas as he's forced to box on the back foot and cover up on the ropes. There's never been a fighter from Featherweight or below who could outwork Fenech, I believe, and if Donaire can't / won't work a jab to keep the range in his favour, I can see Fenech putting him through the grinder and out-toughing him, as he did against iron-chinned warriors such as Villasana and Zaragoza in some of the most brutal, gruelling fights you could imagine.

Donaire has a puncher's chance here, but my money would be on Fenech to grind out a hard-fought decision in a barnstormer, possibly having to get up off the floor to do so.



http://www.v2boxing.com/1/post/2014/08/fantasy-fight-series-fenech-vs-donaire.html

Think you are being slightly harsh on Donaire, its no shame losing to Rigondeaux, who is the best in the division by a mile.

As for Darchinyan, Donaire says he was sick during the run up and the actual fight (no reason to doubt him he is pretty honest) and Vetyeka was getting knocked out in a few rounds anyway, Donaire flattened him a few minutes earlier.

I don't think Donaire is on the way out at all, still good enough to beat everyone in that division. His left hook is still one of the best punches in boxing.