Does the Nonito-Montiel result rank as biggest result in bantie history?

Wow. Even those who were predicting a knockout, and there were many, were not expecting that kind of finish.

Those who were saying that it would be another 50 years before we saw someone climb up the ladder the way Manny Pacquiao has are looking quite silly, too.

Saturday night, Nonito Donaire, Jr. [26-1, 18 KOs] brought the bantamweight division back to HBO’s regular programming in a big way, earning an explosive second round stoppage of a future potential Hall of Famer and Mexican great Fernando Montiel [44-3-2, 30 KOs] in the network’s first foray into the division for the first time since Montiel coincidentally lost a previous step-up fight against an underrated Jhonny Gonzalez nearly five years ago.

The victory could well be considered the biggest one in the history of the division that has only seen one unification bout in its entire history, and the road Donaire paved with his check left hook midway through the second round could lead to a possible gathering of all the belts once Showtime wraps up their bantamweight tournament final in April between IBF champion Joseph Agbeko and Abner Mares. Full WBA champion Anselmo Moreno looks to be on the outside looking in despite clamoring for a big fight for quite awhile now.
The bantamweight division, which has been the gift that keeps on giving in recent years, saw Montiel merge the WBC and WBO titles with an emphatic fourth round knockout of long reigning and near consensus number one Hozumi Hasegawa in four rounds in the defending champion’s homeland. The victory moved Montiel’s name ahead of those of those previously mentioned along with Colombian Yonnhy Perez who was undefeated before losing a rematch to Agbeko in December.

Donaire’s stoppage of Montiel was equally as shocking despite the fact that many experts, pundits, and fans alike thought the San Mateo, California based Filipino would be the first to get to Montiel before the final bell. Donaire even surprised that collection of people as he erased Montiel with an absolutely perfect left hook that the Mexican warrior somehow got back to his feet from despite flailing his arms and legs while on his back after eating the shot. Referee Russell Mora, possibly due to the magnitude of the contest, allowed Montiel to continue despite not responding to questions and not coming forward after making it to his feet right before he reached a count of ten. Luckily, Montiel only ate two more punches before Mora finally came to his senses and halted the bout at the 2:25 mark.

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