On one hand this looks simply like a changing of the guard fight: Montiel the box-puncher has been around seemingly forever, quietly fvcked about for years ninnying around winning WBO belts at fly & super-fly, lost in his first big test to Too Sharp Johnson when Mark was about sixty years old, then just couldn't deal with the size & power of Jhonny "Don't call me Johnny" Gonzalez in a bantamweight title fight. But he's had a bit of a renaissance, flattening fellow Mexican champ Martin Castillo in three, knocking out the likes of perma-challenger Rafael Concepcion, then last year went to Japan & beat consensus Number One in the division Hozumi Hasegawa, the southpaw counter-puncher for the WBC belt. A left hook broke Hasegawa's jaw & a follow-up barrage nearly took the Japanese fighter's head off. He patiently waited for an opportunity, then switched from orthodox to a kind of squared-up southpaw stance to land the big shot. His footwork, though slowed by age, looked Bernard Hopkins-smart in that fight, as if he knew exactly what he was doing & how he was going to do it. A masterful confluence of timing, body angle & foot placement. He looked like he'd watched Hasegawa like a hawk & practised exactly this move a thousand times in the gym.
Now Montiel faces Donaire, who scarily looks & fights a bit like Amir Khan if Amir could knock people out with one punch: he doesn't flurry wildly with six/seven shots, he lets go two or three at a time & they have "Goodnight" written all over them. Actually, his footwork is a lot more solid & less hyperactive than Khan's as well. Hmm. Maybe he's a bit more like a much-quicker switch-hitting Juan Manuel Lopez, then? Tall, devastating hitter... Actually, that's a good comparison because Donaire throws his hook really short from the shoulder. & also, now I come to think about it, he doesn't ever move his head, either, which is also something that Lopez doesn't do. Donaire is able to lead & switch attacks effectively, though, so he's not really like Lopez who cannot throw a power shot unless he's in an exchange.
Bugger it. What I will say is that the weird herky-jerky aggressive counter-puncher style of Montiel & the size & power of Donaire makes this resemble, to my mind, Rafa Marquez vs JuanMa Lopez. & I don't think the older Mexican can realistically turn the tide, & will probably get beaten down in eight rounds after savagely rocking the Filipino once or twice. Then Donaire will move up again & get KTFO'd by someone his own size.
However, to show my support for Fernando, here's why I'd like Montiel to win:-
1) He wears hotpants, under his boxing shorts.
2) From Japan, he took home the WBC/WBO titles, fourteen different trophies & a year's supply of tentacle porn (it was a true Japanese unification fight).
3) His strange "ponce around with your hands low then suddenly leap in with big punches" style pleases me.
4) He's over thirty. We must stick together.
5) Richard "The Secret" Williams.
6) Boxers who are physical marvels relative to their weight class (& who don't do anything much that special beyond that) annoy me, & as I said Donaire has no defence other than skipping backwards & forwards at high speed. It would please me to see him duck a right cross then lollop gaily into a big left hook.
7) It's my day off, & I had nothing better to do than make this thread.
8.) If he wins, I guarantee he'll make some crazy bug-eyed expression like in the second picture, below.
That is all.
WAR MONTIEL!
