Nonito Donaire knocked out last-minute replacement Manuel Vargas in
the third round of their fight Saturday night.
Donaire controlled the bout throughout before flooring Vargas
for good with a solid right uppercut at 1:33 in the third.
"It was a matter of relaxing and working my game plan,"
Donaire said. "I went side to side, leading with the jab, then
landed that hard uppercut."
Donaire, the WBA interim super flyweight champion, was
scheduled to fight Gerson Guerrero. But Guerrero failed his
pre-fight physical, paving the way for Vargas.
"It was a crazy week," Donaire said. "It didn't matter who I
fought, I simply tried to figure him out."
On the undercard, WBO bantamweight champion Fernando Montiel
knocked out Ciso Morales at 2:06 of the first round with two
devastating body shots. Morales hit the canvas in obvious pain and
was unable to beat the count.
Eric Morel earned a split-decision victory against Gerry
Penalosa in a WBO interim bantamweight title fight. The judges
scored it 115-113 and 116-112 in favor of Morel and 115-113 for
Penalosa.
Bernabe Concepcion won an unanimous decision over Mario
Santiago, and Jose Benavidez, Matt Korobov and Diego Magdaleno also
were winners on the undercard.
