Donaire to stay at bantamweight for one more fight, likely face Mares-Agbeko winner

By Boxing News - 02/20/2011 - Comments

Image: Donaire to stay at bantamweight for one more fight, likely face Mares-Agbeko winnerBy Dan Ambrose: Newly crowned WBC/WBO bantamweight champion Nonito Donaire (26-1, 18 KO’s) will be sticking around the bantamweight division for at least one more fight to take on the winner of the Joseph Agebeko vs. Abner Mares bout. For Donaire, this would be a unification bout, as Agbeko currently holds down the IBF bantamweight title and if Donaire can beat the winner of that fight, he would have three of the four bantamweight titles.

That will likely be the last fight for Donaire at bantamweight because it’s not worth it to go after WBA bantamweight champion Anselmo Moreno because he isn’t as well known nor as respected as Mares and Agbeko are. Beating one of those guys will get Donaire much more respect that beating a guy like Moreno, who is a virtual unknown among casual boxing fans in the U.S. The Ageko vs. Mares fight takes place on April 23rd.

Donaire and his promoter Bob Arum will give it a shot to try and take on the winner of that fight. If it doesn’t happen, then there won’t be any point in Donaire sticking around any longer at bantamweight because the division is completely devoid of stars. Fernando Montiel was really the only guy, and Donaire stopped him in the 2nd round last Saturday night. At super bantamweight, the division is just as barren of stars.

There’s WBO super bantamweight champion Wilfredo Vazquez Jr., and that’s about it. He’s not a star in the U.S, so it’s questionable whether this fight is even worth pursuing. IBF champion Steve Molitor is popular in Canada but he already got exposed by Cellestino Caballero in the past. It wouldn’t be interesting to see Donaire fighting a guy that lost so easily to Caballero. Guillermo Rigondeaux, the former Cuban Olympic Gold Medalist, would be a great fight but he doesn’t hold down a title. Arum likes to put his fighters in against champions and can’t see him wasting time putting Donaire in against a non-champion like Rigondeaux, even though he’s probably the best fighter in the division by far.



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