Las Vegas: The Saturday evening of boxing meant to showcase Filipino super-flweight Nonito Donaire went exactly as planned.
Donaire, quickly becoming ready for prime time, caught Manuel Vargas of Mexico midway through the third round with a barrage of punches that overwhelmed the smaller, less-skilled Vargas.
The final blow of the series was a left hook. Vargas kind of let the pain move from his chin to his head, and then collapsed.
Vargas had been a last minute fill-in in the show at the Hilton Hotel Pavilion, so Donaire could not know for sure what he was facing.
He quickly knew what everybody else assumed. It was a mismatch. "I knew in the first round," Donaire said.
"I felt the power. He threw some big, wild punches, and I was a little fearful of that. But he only hit me good once."
Afterward, Top Rank promoter Bob Arum said that Donaire's immediate future will either be a fight against Fernando Montiel, who also won convincingly Saturday night, or against Donaire's arch rival and enemy, Vic Darchinyan, who will fight on a card in Rancho Mirage on March 6.
Young Ciso Morales of the Philippines, winner of all 14 of his fights, got his first real taste of the grizzled pro wars when he stepped into the ring against 30-year-old Montiel, eight years his senior and the current WBO bantamweight titleholder (118 pounds). Montiel has had 44 fights and has now won 40 of them.
Just 2:06 into the first round, during a normal-looking exchange, Montiel caught Morales with a left hook below the right rib cage.
Morales appeared unhurt for several seconds, then crumpled to the canvas.
He clearly was in such pain that there was no way he was getting up.
