Montiel-Donaire will meet tomorrow in Las Vegas to start hyping their February 19th fight

By Boxing News - 01/09/2011 - Comments

By Dave Lahr: WBC/WBO bantamweight champion Fernando Montiel (44-2-2, 34 KO’s) will be meeting with challenger Nonito Donaire (25-1, 17 KO’s) in a press conference to start generating excitement for their February 19th bout at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Montiel, a three time world champion, has to fend off the fast but limited Donaire in order to move on to bigger and better things in the future. The Donaire vs. Montiel fight will be shown on HBO’s Boxing After Dark at 9:45 PM ET/PT.

Also on the same card will be a rematch between Mike Jones and Jesus Soto-Karass. The two previously fought last year in November with Jones ending up winning by a controversial 10 round majority decision. Soto-Karass appeared to win in the minds of many boxing fans, including this writer. Also on the card will be welterweight action between Mark Melligen and Gabriel Martinez and Mickey Bey Jr. and Jose Hernandez in light welterweight action.

Montiel has looked sensational in his last four fights, defeating Ciso Morales, Hozumi Hasegawa, Rafael Concepcion and Jovanny Soto all by knockout wins. Montiel looked especially sharp in his 4th round TKO win over Hasegawa.

For his part, Donaire has done pretty much zero since stopping Vic Darchinyan by a upset 5th round TKO in July 2007. Since that fight, Donaire has beaten a number of lesser fighters not worth mentioning and struggled against Rafael Concepcion, a fighter that Montiel blew out of the ring in an easy knockout win. In his last several fights, Donaire has had easy fights against fodder opponents Manuel Vargas, Hernan Marquez and Wladimir Sidorenko.



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