December 11, 2015 Nonito Donaire vs Cesar Juarez at Coliseo Roberto Clemente, San Juan, Puerto Rico for the vacant WBO World super bantamweight title
Anticipation and tension was palpable in the Philippines capital of Manila as two renowned super bantamweight professional boxers were set to engage each other on Saturday December 12. In the exhilarating duel, Nonito Donaire vs Cesar Juarez, Donaire stepped up to the challenge and pounded Juarez, securing the WBO junior featherweight title at Coliseo Roberto Clemente. The Filipino-American boxer, Nonito Donaire Jr was slated to win the match as he had the upper hand as the scores, 116-110,116-110,117-109 were all in his favor. The battle of titanic proportions ensured that Donaire ended the year triumphant, once again. A former world champion in 5 different weight classes Donaire entered with a professional record of 35.3.0 (23 Knockouts) and is the fourth highest ranked boxer in bantam weight division in the world.
The first round climax in a counter right hand launched by the agile Donaire sent Juarez reeling in what could have been a premature victory for the Filipino-American. Donaire’s signature left hooks ensured that he delivered two knockouts in the fourth round. This culminated in a heavily heated bout of fierce and emotionally charged punches.
The fourth round opened with a barrage of punches aimed at Juarez that almost spelt doom for the Mexican opponent. Fie had to switch his stances and movements in an unpredictable fashion in the fifth round as Juarez did not seem to crack. His signature moves were not powerful this time to take apart Juarez like he normally does in the first few rounds of any given match.
On the sixth round opening drive of the truTV broadcasted match, the fight intensified and Juarez brought the heat to the feisty 33 year old Donaire, seriously injuring his left eye. Juarez, 24 years old, 17-3-0 tried his best to gain back the advantage at the premise of the eleventh round. This did little as Donaire had already accumulated enough points to seal a victory. Clearly, Donaire had underestimated the power of Juarez drive and assault.
Come the seventh, eighth and ninth rounds, Donaire was out of form and character. The Filipino was close to falling out due to his impaired vision and injured right ankle compounded further by Juarez aggressive return. Fie then resulted to pacing along the ropes and making subtle side steps almost closer to Floyd Mayweather’s strategic defense moves, in order to maintain form.
Donaire continued to show lack of coordination in the seventh round due to his injured eye and Juarez took advantage of the situation to bounce back. Juarez landed a series of coordinated punches to the already fazed Donaire in an attempt to bring down the legendary boxer. Fie had him bound to the ropes in a sequence of blows and carefully calculated stances.
In the eighth round, Donaire slipped and fell and the referee was torn between decisions whether to call it a slip or call it a knockdown. After serious consideration, he called it a slip.
In the Nonito Donaire vs Cesar Juarez heavily contested bout, Juarez received tremendous punishment with a serious injury to his nose with blood gushing after appearing to show off in the middle rounds. Fie bravely took everything Donaire threw at him and showed resilience and persistence throughout the fight.
Both Donaire and Juarez did well to hold on strong until the final bell whistle, eventually Filipino American won the WBO super bantamweight title.
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