Donaire may have to use up all of 2012 & 2013 waiting to fight the best super bantamweights

By Boxing News - 10/27/2011 - Comments

Image: Donaire may have to use up all of 2012 & 2013 waiting to fight the best super bantamweightsBy Chris Williams: WBC/WBO bantamweight champion Nonito Donaire (27-1, 18 KO’s) is moving up in weight now to the super bantamweight division to look for the biggest fights t that weight class rather than moving up just little more to the featherweight division to take on the really talented fighters. Donaire’s Top Rank promoters are reportedly offering a $100,000 bonus to try and get some of what they consider the best fighters at super bantamweight to fight Donaire quickly.

However, I hope Donaire has a lot of time to kill while he’s waiting for the top three guys – Jorge Arce, Wilfredo Vazquez Jr. and Toshiaki Nishioka to fight him. Arc end Vazquez will likely meet up for a rematch in 2012, and that’s the priority for both of them. As for Nishioka, he just finished with a hard fight against Rafael Marquez and he doesn’t want to fight again until at least May. There’s no telling if he’s going to be open to fighting Donaire.

Donaire could fight Rico Ramos or Guillermo Rigondeaux, but those guys are both dangerous and I seriously doubt Top Rank will let Donaire anywhere close to either of those guys. You did notice that Bob Arum, Donaire’s promoter, failed to mention Rigondeaux and Ramos when he was looking at possible opponents for 2012. You think that was an accident. Donaire is a decent fighter, but now that he’s moving up in weight we’re seeing how beatable he is. Donaire looked horrible in beating the much smaller Omar Narvaez in his last fight last Saturday night. Donaire may have weighed as much as 140 pounds on that night, but he wasn’t punching like a 140 pounder. He’s not the puncher he was at super flyweight, and he’s going to likely be in a lot of trouble if and when he gets put in with the likes of Ramos, Rigondeaux, Juan Manuel Lopez and Yuriorkis Gamboa. Those guys are good fighters and would give Donaire major problems.

But 2012 could be another wasted year for Donaire, who turns 29 next month. I don’t think it’s worth it wasting another year and finding himself 30-years or maybe even 31 by the time he steps it up to the featherweight division. Donaire needs to move up if he can’t get those fights. Since it looks as if Donaire is being steered around the best fighters at super bantamweight anyway in Ramos and Rigondeaux, he might as well forget about waiting on the guys his promoters want him to fight and just move up to featherweight now and try his luck against Donaire and Gamboa while he’s still young. Waiting a couple of years will only hurt Donaire. He needs to move up now.



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