TEN years after relinquishing the WBC bantamweight title so he could campaign in a higher weight class,
Nonito Donaire – at an astonishing 38 years old – regained his old belt when he upset the odds to crush
Nordine Oubaali inside four rounds.
The remarkable feat also means the US-based Filipino has now held alphabet gongs in three different decades; his first one came down at flyweight in 2007 when he crushed IBF title-holder Vic Darchinyan in five rounds to announce his arrival.
It was a different world back then. Twitter was in its infancy and could boast only 50,000 active accounts compared to almost 200 million today. On Saturday night and Sunday morning, as Donaire’s latest achievement filtered rapidly through boxing’s myriad social media channels, a rare thing happened… universal agreement: Nonito, one of the most pleasant individuals in the industry, was declared a legend in the sport.