Arum wants to match Donaire against Nishioka and Arce in 2012

By Chris Williams: Photo credit: Sumio Yamada – In a sign that he may have a tin ear for what boxing fans want to see, Top Rank promoter Bob Arum wants to move his fighter Nonito Donaire (27-1, 18 KO’s) up to the super bantamweight division where Arum wants Donaire to spend the better part of the year facing WBC super bantamweight champion Toshioki Nishioka and then WBO super bantamweight champion Jorge Arce so that Donaire can capture two of the belts. With Arum still not matching Donaire against the fighters that fans want to see him facing in Yuriorkis Gamboa aand Juan Manuel Lopez, it makes you wonder if Arum has confidence in Donaire or not.

Arum especially wants Nishioka to be the first fight for Donaire in 2012. I think that’s a good waste of time for Donaire. Only hardcore boxing fans know who Nishioka is and even the hardcore fans aren’t very impressed with the guy. Why would Arum want to waste anymore of Donaire’s time facing a guy where he won’t get any real credit?

Donaire might as well stay at bantamweight and fight an unknown contender then to move up and face a guy that the casual boxing fans have never heard of or seen before. I think it’s a stupid idea to be honest. The Arce fight isn’t even interesting because Arce is only 5’4″, and it would be another easy fight for Donaire.

Given that Donaire is about to turn 29 next month, don’t you think Arum should be pushing him towards the fights that will make him star at featherweight instead of wasting more of Donaire’s time fighting guys that are keeping Donaire treading water.

If I’m Donaire, I’d say a big ‘no’ to fighting Nishioka because there’s no payoff in beating the guy other than capturing a title that no one really cares about. I guess it may sound good that Donaire has won a title at super bantamweight, but I think boxing fans are more into match-ups against well known fighters than matching guys against so-called champions that they’ve never even heard of before.

I don’t like the Arce fight either because Arce has already been easily beaten by Vic Darchinyan, the guy that Donaire already beat in the past. Where’s the gain in fighting Arce? It certainly won’t help Donaire when/if Arum ever moves Donaire up to the featherweight division and puts him in against Juan Manuel Lopez and Yuriorkis Gamboa. Those guys are a lot better than Arce and Donaire is going to be in shock going from another old and small guy like Arce to someone like Lopez or Gamboa.

Donaire easily defeated 36-year-old super flyweight Omar Narvez last Saturday night by a 12 round unanimous decision. Donaire swept the scorecards with a 120-108, 120-108 and 120-108 decision. However, it another example of Donaire being matched against smaller, weaker opposition instead of the 5’7″ Donaire being put in with someone his size or someone that is a threat to him.

But more importantly, Donaire’s biggest problem is that he’s not matched against big named stars since his win over Darchinyan in 2007, and it looks like that trend is going to continue into 2012. We may not see Donaire facing a big star until 2012, when he’ll be 30-years-old. He’s already showing signs of slowing down and his power was completely nonexistent against Narvaez.

16 Responses to “Arum wants to match Donaire against Nishioka and Arce in 2012”