Montiel: The Biggest Fight Before His Biggest Fight
By Cliff Rold
Heading into his Middleweight title defense against Paul Williams last month, it was pretty clear that a clean win would all but sew up Fighter of the Year honors for Sergio Martinez. His win over Kelly Pavlik in April set the stage for a career year. Martinez didn’t let up when he had a chance to reverse a 2009 Williams loss.
One assumes Williams has since awakened from the right hand that turned out his lights last month.
We know for certain that former bantamweight titlist Hozumi Hasegawa has recovered from the broken jaw and standing stoppage he suffered just thirteen days after Martinez bested Pavlik.
It was April 30 and, when the final bell sounded, when the names for potential future opponents were bandied about, it was clear Martinez wasn’t the only fighter in position for a career year.
Fernando Montiel, competing significantly in his third weight class, had gone on the road to unify belts at Bantamweight against one of the sports longest reigning champs, adding the WBC strap to his WBO honors.
Montiel’s promoter, Bob Arum, was talking about a showdown with Filipino talent Nonito Donaire. A summer tune-up knockout of the usually durable Rafael Concepcion kept the possibilities on track.
It all came crashing to a halt in October. Literally.
Fighter of the Year chances had likely already slipped away with the Donaire clash headed for 2011. A motorcycle crash looked like curtains for the 2010 Montiel campaign period.
It has instead turned into a hiccup on the way to one last appearance for the year.
Lost in the shadow of the kick-off for Showtime’s outstanding Bantamweight tournament, is a return to the ring this weekend in a non-title fight at a higher weight class against journeyman Giovani Soto.
What Montiel needs to guard against is complacency. The bout with Soto was a switch in plans just earlier this week, as the original script called for an optional defense against Eduardo Garcia, who boasts title fight experience and has only been stopped once in ten years and 27 fights as a pro.
Such a fight would’ve given Montiel a chance to measure himself against a Donaire (25-1, 17 KO) whose star is shining as brightly as it has since the night Donaire knocked Vic Darchinyan out to win a Flyweight belt in 2007.
Now he’s in a position where he simply must not blow it. As it stands, all of the buzz belongs with the guy that will stand in the opposite corner on February 19, 2011.
Anyone who saw Donaire last weekend had to be impressed. Wladimir Sidorenko was a quality opponent and Donaire went through him hot knife meets butter style.
It was vicious.
Devastating.
Sellable.
While IBF titlist Yohnny Perez, Darchinyan, Abner Mares, and former IBF titlist Joseph Agbeko are occupied on Showtime, Montiel and Donaire are all but locked in for a February 19, 2011, showdown on HBO. Montiel must fulfill only one obligation this weekend – doing enough to move forward towards that date.
The biggest fight of his life looms. With close to 20 title wins spanning three weight classes (112, 115 and 118), Montiel has in Donaire the type of Hall of Fame insurance win for which every fighter hopes.
It’s no guarantee that Montiel can win, but we won’t know until he gets Donaire in the ring. That makes his fight this Friday against Soto the biggest fight of his life until then. Lose one and the other probably disappears.
So, yeah, he must not blow it. That does not mean Montiel isn’t capable.
It’s the element that adds a little something extra to every one of his outings, the question of which Montiel will show up.
There’s the version that is lucky to find himself anywhere near getting HBO airtime again.
He’s had two big platforms on their air and both times were turkeys. In his HBO debut in August 2003, he lost a majority decision to Mark Johnson in a tactical fight where he looked occasionally intimidated. Three years later, Montiel couldn’t engage with the typically exciting Jhonny Gonzalez.
Fans whose only exposure to Montiel came in those two fights could be excused for finding him dull.
Those who watch fights on other networks, or on HBO pay-per-view undercards, could feel even more disappointed. They knew better and were left scratching their heads. Johnson could be explained on two fronts – that he was just a greatly talented fighter having his last great night, and also the first serious opponent Montiel saw after the unfortunate death foe Pedro Alcazar in 2002.
Alcazar, stopped by Montiel in six rounds for the WBO 115 lb. title, left the ring of his own accord. A trip to an amusement park was suspected of exacerbating lingering head injuries from the Montiel fight, Alcazar passing away two days after his only career loss.
The Gonzalez fight is more difficult to explain. Maybe it was a case of styles that don’t make a fight but Montiel didn’t look too interested in that fight, either.
That’s one version of Montiel.
Then there is the version pushed harder than expected to the delight of the crowd.
On the road in the Philippines, he and Z Gorres went to an exciting split decision in 2007. Later that year, Montiel traded knockdowns with Luis Melendez before a final round knockout.
In September 2009, Montiel again found himself trading knockdowns, this time with Alejandro Valdez in a non-title affair. A cut apparently caused by a punch led to a technical draw…no, wait, a win for Valdez…nope, technical draw.
It was one of those nights in boxing.
It was one of those nights in the fistic life of Montiel.
It’s that version of the fighter, the one who can be caught looking ahead, caught fighting to the level of his opponents. It means that even a fighter like Soto can be considered a little bit of a live ‘dog, even if his record (29-11-1, 24KO) suggests only a punchers chance – and that his punch lands first.
Finally, there is the best of Montiel.
There is the speedy knockout artist who went through Ivan Hernandez and Martin Castillo in style. T
There is the warrior who turned a losing three rounds against Hasegawa into a knockout win in the fourth; the Montiel who many thought would be one of the best Mexicans of his era and turned out to be when the people weren’t necessarily looking.
That’s the Montiel who is regarded right now as the best fighter in arguably the best division in boxing. It’s the version causing knowledgeable fight fans to salivate at the thought of a showdown with the Donaire who nuked Sidorenko.
It’s the Montiel who needs to show up this Saturday night to keep the drool from becoming cottonmouth.
Weekly Ledger
But wait, there’s more…
ShoBox Reviewed:
http://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&id=33491
Weekend – Donaire/Lightweight War:
http://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&id=33557
Ratings Update:
http://www.boxingscene.com/forums/view.php?pg=boxing-ratings
Picks of the Week:
http://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&id=33582
Cliff’s Notes…
It was a tough fight to care about, but credit was due to Wladimir Klitschko and Dereck Chisora for doing the best to sell their Heavyweight title fight - and then it went away. A training injury KO’d Wlad and - well, it’s hard to feel like the fight will be missed. Chisora didn’t look experienced or simply good enough to challenge a Wladimir in peak form. At least he was willing to play the part of Brit-based big man who doesn’t just talk about fighting the best Heavyweight in the world… The question is not whether Marcos Maidana can knock out Amir Khan, but if he will be able to land… If Lamont Peterson could be seriously hurt against Timothy Bradley, it will be interesting to see what he does with the heavier hands and similar speed of Victor Ortiz… That said, HBO has some very good matches this weekend… Bantamweight and Jr. Welterweight - it’s a broken record from this corner. This weekend is about the two best divisions in boxing showing their best face. It doesn’t get much better.
