Donaire regains world title with decision over Juarez

He’ll try to regain the WBO 122-pound championship tonight, when Donaire (35-3, 23 KOs) will meet Mexico’s Cesar Juarez (17-3, 13 KOs) in a 12-round fight truTV will air as the opener of a two-fight telecast (10 p.m.) from Roberto Clemente Coliseum in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Donaire was in control early, knocking Juarez down twice with left hooks in the fourth round.

Donaire survived the final two rounds – doing more than that, in fact, particularly in the 12th where he gave more than he got, simply because Juarez just wouldn’t stop coming at him, and he had to do something. Juarez was able to cut off the ring on Donaire and nail with painful looking body shots and hard chopping head shots. Donaire fired every shot in his arsenal and scored heavily with a lot of them, but still it wasn’t enough to end the fight.

That defeat in Los Angeles saw Donaire lose the World Boxing Association featherweight world title.

It has been that way for Donaire during most of his career, which saw him post his first world crown by beating Australian-based Armenian Vic Darchinyan for the International Boxing Federation flyweight crown in 2007.

By the 9th round, Donaire’s face began to swell up and blacken around his left eye.

The non-televised Maccarinelli match is the seventh consecutive pointless fight for Jones, 46, in the past two years as he supposedly pursues a cruiserweight world title shot. But make no mistake-Donaire will be feeling the effects of that late-arriving assault for days to come. Juarez was a virtual dream target for a counter-puncher like Donaire. “But I think because it was the Garden and Puerto Rican Day [Parade] weekend, there was no way he wasn’t going through with the fight”. He landed a big right hand on his chin to knock him down 30 seconds into the round.

The main event was far less interesting, as WBO Latino lightweight champion Felix Verdejo (19-0, 14 KOs) made easy work of an overmatched Josenilson Dos Santos (25-3, 15 KOs) in stopping him in the 2nd round. Verdejo’s injury was so bad before be beat Najera in a bout HBO broadcast, those that promote him for Bob Arum’s Top Rank Inc. thought he’d have to withdraw. Verdejo cruised through the first round and then unleashed a full-leverage overhand right in the second round that caught Dos Santos (27-4, 17 KOs) on the chin and dropped him to all fours. The fight was stopped at 2:21 of the round.

Verdejo is ready to be put in with better opposition.