LOS ANGELES, California – The score was settled. It’s a poetic justice for the now retired Z Gorres (31-2, 17 KO’s), one of the best world boxing champions the Philippines never had.
Nonito Donaire’s second round destruction of three-time world champion Fernando "Cochulito" Montiel (44-3, 34 KO’s) at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada on February 19, avenged Gorres’ controversial 12-round split decision loss to the same Mexican ring dynamo for the WBO super flyweight diadem on February 24, 2007 in Cebu City.
Judges Raul Caiz Sr 115-111 and Chuck Giampa 114-112 awarded the bout to Montiel; while third judge Denny Nelson saw Gorres the winner, 111-115.
Ring experts believed Gorres should have clinched the world crown as he was "more impressive" ring generalship and effective hits, two of the three criteria in judging a world title fight. The other criterion is defense.
Using his superior speed and footwork that gave him glory in his amateur days, Gorres dictated the first phase of the bout and nearly scored a stoppage win in the middle of the title clash. Montiel survived Gorres’ murderous binge before a partisan crowd and blasted his way to eke out a split decision verdict.
HUNT FOR
WORLD TITLE
The defeat derailed Gorres’ hunt for world title as he had been primed by Cebu’s top ring impresario Antonio Aldeguer to be the next world champion.
Eight months later, Gorres captured the lesser-known IBF inter continental super flyweight belt with a smashing 8th round TKO win over Montiel’s compatriot, Eric Ortiz, in Sacramento, California.
Gorres added the WBO oriental bantamweight crown to his collection of regional and international tiaras with a 7th-round TKO win over Roberto Carlos Leyva in Cebu City on March 14, 2009
After whipping Luis Melendez in a 10-round non-title scrapper in Las Vegas, Nevada on November 13, 2009, Gorres collapsed. He underwent brain surgery and ended his ring career which started on March 31, 2001 with a six-round unanimous decision win over Rudy Hibaya.
RING ENEMY
At one moment, Gorres became a nemesis of the Donaire boxing family. This was after he defeated Nonito’s elder brother, Glenn, by a controversial TKO in the first round at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on March 19, 2005.
Referee Jay Nady stopped the 10-round non-title tiff at 2:03 gone in the opening round when Glenn turned his back after being peppered by Gorres’ left hook. Glenn and his cornermen protested Nady’s "premature" decision. They insisted Glenn was not hurt and was about to resume fighting when the referee waved the fight off.
Donaire’s two-round demolition of Montiel on February 19 completed Gorres’ redemption. If he defeated Montiel in 2007, would have won the world crown ahead of Donaire, who became an international sensation when he pulverized the much-feared KO artist Vic Darchinyan in the fifth round to grab the IBF and IBO flyweight titles in Bridgeport, Connecticut on July 7, 2007.
Ring Magazine hailed the previous knockout of rnscathed Darchinyan as the "KO of the Year". Donaire (26-1, 18 KO’s) considered the punch the "put Montiel to dreamland" as "the No. 1 punch of my career." /MP
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