NO MATCH FOR DONAIRE

Nonito Donaire Jr. walks away from a fallen Manuel Vargas. Chris Farina/Top Rank

LAS VEGAS – Nonito Donaire Jr. made short work of late substitute Manuel Vargas of Mexico to banner the country’s campaign in the Pinoy Power 3/Latin Fury 13 boxing card at the Hilton Hotel and Casino here Saturday.

Donaire was in control of the 12-round bout right from the opening bell, before delivering the coup de grace in the 1:33 mark of the third when he caught Vargas with a solid right uppercut.

Vargas, fighting as a super-flyweight for the first time, fell flat on his back and failed to beat the count of referee Joe Cortez, allowing Donaire to keep his World Boxing Association (WBA) interim 115-pound belt.

The Filipino improved to 23-1, with 15 KOs.

He was originally scheduled to take on Gerson Guerrero, but the Mexican wasn’t allowed to fight by the Nevada State Athletic Commission owing to a detached retina on his right eye.

“I went side to side, leading with the jab, then landed that hard uppercut,” said the 27-year old Donaire, drawing cheers from a jampacked crowd that included World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight champion and world pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao and former world title contender Z Gorres.

“It was a crazy week,” Donaire admitted.. “It didn’t matter who I fought. I simply tried to figure him out.”

The smashing win by Donaire, the former International Boxing Federation (IBF) flyweight king, made up for the heartbreaking losses suffered by compatriot Gerry Penalosa and Ciso Morales.

Penalosa, 37, lost by split decision to Eric Morel in what perhaps could be his last professional fight.

The veteran boxer (54-8, 36 KOs) won in one of the judges’ scorecards, 115-113, but lost in the other two by scores of 115-113 and 116-112.

The fight was a title eliminator, with Morel expected to get a shot at reigning WBO bantamweight champion Fernando Montiel, who was devastating in his first round annihilation of Morales in the other undercard.

Montiel landed two solid body shots to the overmatched Filipino, leaving Morales crumbling in pain and unable to beat the count at the 2:06 mark of the opening round.

It was the first loss for Morales in 15 pro fights.

Earlier, Bernabe Concepcion pounded out a unanimous decision over Mario Santiago of Puerto Rico to earn a possible title shot against reigning WBO featherweight king Juan Manuel Lopez.

Concepcion (28-3, 14KOs) staggered Santiago several times, and had the Puerto Rican down in the canvas in the sixth round after connecting on a short right just above the chin.

The Filipino won by scores of 98-91, 97-92 and 96-93.

Welterweight Mark Jason Melligen also won his fight agains previously undefeated Raymond Gatica of Austin, Texas, hammering out a sixth round technical knockout as the Filipinos won three and lost two in the boxing card promoted by Top Rank.

At the end of the promotion, Pacquiao addressed the audience and asked for some financial help to augment the recovery of Gorres from a life-threatening loss last November.