Once and future prince

Nonito Donaire Jr. AP FILE PHOTO

Nonito Donaire Jr.’s latest triumph marks the return to relevance of one of boxing’s former pound-for-pound stars. His unanimous-decision victory over Mexican Cesar Juarez, who proved as tough as raw hide, bids fair to usher the “Filipino Flash” back to the limelight he once shared with his more illustrious and more accomplished countryman, Manny Pacquiao.

For those with sporting memories extending only to the last couple of years, Donaire was often mentioned alongside Pacquiao. Raised in the United States, he was the prince to Pacquiao’s king and was once the heir apparent to the superstardom of the eight-division champion.

But two losses—to Cuban ring artist Guillermo Rigondeaux and Jamaican wrecking ball Nicholas Walters—took the sheen out of Donaire’s star, leaving many to wonder if he still had the will and ability to return to marquee billing in the unforgiving world of professional boxing. The defeat to Walters was particularly devastating. Sure, he showed the cojones achingly missing in Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s body of work in taking on an opponent many had warned was bigger and more powerful than he. But the result only validated those concerned voices. He was knocked out in the sixth round of the featherweight championship bout, and nearly spiraled into irrelevance.

However, Donaire quietly dropped back a weight class and piled up comeback wins over less-heralded opponents before announcing his return to form against Juarez. But don’t get us wrong. The Mexican was no limelight opponent, and for four or five rounds he looked like a patsy fed to bloat Donaire’s boxing win record.

Donaire floored Juarez twice inside that span, and seemed ready to coast to a knockout win or a decisive full-route victory. The final seven or eight rounds of the match, though, revealed a fighter in Juarez that mainstream fans knew little of, and the two fighters engaged in a fierce and unrelenting exchange of huge punches until the final bell, so much so that people are now talking about the bout in Fight-of-the-Year terms.

Our man did not wilt, nor did he run out of ideas to deal with the raging Juarez, who spent the latter half of the bout looking for the big punch that could change the outcome. Instead, he met Juarez head on with creativity and technique to go, with a power and stamina that matched his opponent’s aggression.

In the end, Donaire’s path to the top got a big boost with all three judges giving him the bout—117-109, 116-110 and 116-110. In claiming the WBO super bantamweight crown, he showed that he had rededicated himself to achieving the greatness he once showed the world he was capable of flaunting.

He certainly had superstardom written all over him after winning 30 straight matches in a 12-year undefeated run. A stunning knockout victory over Vic Darchinyan catapulted him to boxing’s brightest lights, and he never failed to entertain when he entered the ring. Powerful and crafty, he highlighted his 12-year run with huge wins over marquee names like Fernando Montiel and Jorge Arce. But a poorly prepared Donaire couldn’t unlock the Rigondeaux riddle and his ring smarts couldn’t hold up against a hard-hitting Walters, resulting in the two losses that nearly defined his career.

This fight with Juarez can change all that. More than a message to the boxing world announcing his return, his victory over the Mexican is a personal telegram to himself: This is who you are. This is what you are capable of doing. This proves you still are among the world’s elite.

It is up to Donaire to read those lines over and over again, to replay everything that went right during the Juarez bout—from training camp to fight night—and stick to that formula until he marches back to the list of the pound-for-pound elite. Having been derailed once by a combination of poor career decisions and training distractions, he must take advantage of a shrinking window of opportunity to establish himself among the greatest to step into the squared circle.

More than the fans, the boxing experts or his circle of family and supporters, Donaire owes it to himself to do that much.