BY CONRAD M. CARIÑO
When an up-and-coming fighter beats an elite fighter who is no longer in his prime, does that guarantee him of achieving an elite status in the future? From what I have observed, the usual answer is “no.”
And just over the weekend, Jessie Magdaleno, who beat Nonito Donaire in November 2016, was stopped out by Isaac Dogboe, proving that joining the ranks of the elite requires more than just beating an elite fighter, especially those who are no longer in their prime.
Another fighter who beat Donaire, Nicholas Walters via 6th round stoppage in October 2016, was stopped by Vasyl Lomachenko in November 2011.
The Magdaleno-Dogboe fight actually exposed the weaknesses of Donaire’s former foe, and these were quite obvious even when he fought the Filipino in November 2011.
In their fight, Magdaleno was the one who back pedaled for much of the fight as Donaire continually stalked him. If the fight was held during the earlier days of boxing, Donaire would have won the fight even if Magdaleno landed more punches, because old school boxing judges expect the challenger to do much of the pressing against the champion.
Also, Magdaleno clinched a lot of times, and I believe that boxing organizations should start penalizing boxers who clinch too much during fights because that denies the fighter who doesn’t clinch a chance to land punches at close quarters. And Donaire and Manny Pacquiao are one of the very few fighters who hardly clinch during fights.
But even if Magdaleno outlanded Donaire in their world junior featherweight (122 pounds) championship fight, I never saw Magdaleno becoming an elite fighter for one reason: he never had the fire Donaire possessed when the Filipino was in his prime.
So when Magdaleno squared off against a relentless puncher and roughhouser like Dogboe, he crumbled under pressure and lost via 11th round stoppage over the weekend. Magdaleno knocked down Dogboe early in the fight but his opponent evened the score later. Magdaleno would get floored twice more in the 11th round. What a bad way to lose!
Magdaleno tried to get away with clinching but Dogboe managed to let one of his hands to continue punching whenever his opponent attempted a clinch.
So what’s the future of Magdaleno? I doubt it if he join the ranks of the elite because suffering a knockout loss early in one’s career makes him look vulnerable to other up-and-coming fighter in his age bracket. Magdaleno is 26 years old.
Magdaleno was 24 years old when he beat Donaire and won a piece of the world junior featherweight championship. On the other hand, Donaire won his first championship at flyweight at 23 years old by stopping Vic Darchinyan in July 2007, and racked up 14 straight wins mostly at the championship level until the end of 2012.
Pacquiao, on the other hand, was 22 years old when he stopped Lehlo Ledwaba in June 2001 and that win led him to bigger fights and a brilliant career as one of the top two boxers of his era.
Strangely, both Pacquiao and Donaire were last-minute replacements for the original opponents of Ledwaba and Darchiyan, respectively. So that means the two Filipino boxers were never given the luxury of choosing fighters who were no longer in their prime, so as to up their chances of winning.
So that what also defines a future elite fighter—they overcome the odds of being the huge underdog and continue winning against top opposition. Magdaleno never got that chance, because Donaire was no longer in his prime when he beat the Filipino.
And when faced with a dangerous opponent like Dogboe, Magdaleno’s weaknesses became too obvious.
Being an overly cautious fighter also does not make a future elite fighter, because elite fighters love to mix it up and will give fans what they paid for—an exciting fight.
Even Floyd Mayweather Jr. was at times gung-ho during his early years at the championship level, and evolved into one of the finest counterpunchers in the sport’s history.
From the way he disposed Magdaleno, the 23-year old Dogboe from Ghana may be a future elite fighter given the heart he showed. Also, his relentless punching style is what fans want.
And I warn Guillermo Rigondeaux, who beat Donaire in April 2013 in a fight where the Cuban employed a lot of clinching, from fighting Dogboe.
Anyway, Rigondeaux also got shackled by Lomachenko in December last year.
So maybe, elite fighters also carry some kind of bad karma.