By Paul Strauss: Fans at the Home Depot Center, Carson, CA were treated to two very entertaining fights, both of which went the distance. That was a bit of a surprise considering big punchers were involved in each contest.
Kelly “The Ghost” Pavlik 40-2-0 (34) came first in his fight against undefeated EMT (Emergency Medical Technician) Will “Power” Rosinsky 16-2-0 (9). Kelly came away with a UD, but the super middleweight had trouble with his shorter, quicker foe. Rosinsky’s hand speed and foot speed helped prevent Kelly was finding his rhythm. Kelly consistently managed to land the more punishing shots, especially a left hook to the body, but he couldn’t land the clincher.
He came closest in the second round when he landed a short right hand right on Rosinsky’s chin. In a flash Rosinky was down and for a brief moment looked like he might be in serious trouble. However, he used his head, moved well and struck back with quick combinations to keep Kelly from getting through anymore big shots..
Although Kelly won the fight in convincing fashion, he did have trouble with the quicker foe. He wasn’t able to get much of a jab going, and he repeatedly got nailed with overhand rights, one of which might have produced a cut over his left eye in the fourth round. More likely, it was a clash of heads. The fact is though, a bigger puncher might have caused him considerable trouble.
In the post-fight interview Kelly admitted he isn’t yet one hundred percent, but he believes he’s close. He wants a fight with a big name opponent soon…….naming fighters such as Froch, Bute, Kessler, and Ward. First, he plans to take a little rest and then he will be back in the gym, working on a few needed improvements. The official scores were 98-91 (twice) and 97-92.
In the main event, Nonito “Filipino Flash” Donaire 29-1-0 (18) proved he can handle an extremely tall opponent. In Jeffrey “The Mongoose” Mathebula 23-6-2 (14) he gave up five and one half inches, and it was no easy task for him to get close enough to launch his big shots. He ate a lot of jabs trying.
In the fourth round, he did manage to land his big left hook. The punch was right on target, but Nonito wasn’t positioned quite right to get the full effect. Still, it was lucky for Mathebula the big blow came at the end of round four, so before he had to face The Flash again, he had a chance to recover between rounds.
Give credit to Mathebula, he came back strong in the fifth, and might have even taken the round. In fact, he consistently threw and landed more punches, but his shots landed the power of Donaire’s. He kept things interesting though, but in the eleventh he got cracked again. More accurately, The Mongoose’s tooth at the back of his left jaw got cracked from a nice Donaire right hand.
The power of the shot froze Mathebula, and all of a sudden there wasn’t much output on his part. His jab was gone, as well as the quick snappy combinations, which enabled Donaire to unload with some heavy shots. The judges were impressed with Donaire’s performance and had him winning by a wide margin. 119-108; 118-109; and 117-110, but even Donaire admitted he had trouble with Mathebula’s jab, explaining it kept him off balance and unable to set up combinations the way he wanted.
He credited trainer Robert Garcia with giving him the advice to throw a simple one–two combination, which produced the cracked Mongoose tooth in the eleventh. A possible flaw in Donaire’s approach is his desire to please fans, and produce exciting fights. In doing so, he exposes himself to unnecessary risks. In this fight, Garcia cautioned him early on “This is a twelve round fight”, and he had plenty of time to wear Mathebula down and get to him. However, Donaire insisted on loading up and charging in without the benefit of his own jab. As a result, he ate a lot of leather, and at the end of the fight his face showed some damage.
The good thing is he demonstrated he definitely can handle taller guys in the super bantamweight division. He also proved his power is still sufficient to put the bigger guys on their butts. There’s obviously much more excitement down the line with the Filipino Flash and his new talent loaded division, in which he now holds the WBO and IBF title belts.