By Chris Williams: Nonito Donaire’s promoter Bob Arum is a wily fox with his latest matchmaking for his Top Rank fighter by putting him in with the recently knocked out Wilfredo Vazquez Jr. (21-1-1, 18 KO’s) in a fight on February 4th at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.

Arum could have matched Donaire against the winner of the Guillermo Rigondeaux vs. Rico Ramos fight for the WBA super bantamweight title but instead he’s going after the arguably much softer target of the 27-year-old Vazquez Jr., who was knocked out in the 12th round by Jorge Arce last May. Vazquez Jr. has fought only once since then, beating Roberto Carlos Leyva by a 3rd round TKO last October.

Incredibly, Donaire and Vazquez Jr. will be fighting for the vacant World Boxing Organization super bantamweight title. Talk about soft landings for Vazquez Jr. He fails in his fight with Arce and yet gets to still fight for a title while the other top contenders have to sit back and waste away having been skipped over by not only the recently beaten Vazquez Jr., but also Donaire, who is moving up in weight to take the fight. I imagine it must feel pretty terrible if you’re one of the WBO top contenders and you see stuff like this going on.

At any rate, Donaire has got another soft target for him to win. Rigondeaux would have been a preferable fight for boxing fans to see, but then again he’s a dangerous southpaw counter puncher with an unbeaten record and two Olympic gold medals. No, boxing fans get to see Donaire facing the recently beaten Vazquez Jr. I think I’ll go out on a limb here and pick Donaire to win this one. I sure I’m not wrong about it.

Donaire will be looking to get one more fight at super bantamweight after he beats Vazquez Jr. next month against WBC super bantamweight champion Toshiaki Nishioka. Donaire will then likely move up in weight after that. Supposedly Nishioka is the best fighter in the division in the minds of a lot of people. I’m not one of them. I rate that guy well below Rigondeaux, but it helps when you got people saying Nishioka is the best because it will give Donaire cover if he moves up in weight after he fights that guy rather than staying for one more fight against Rigondeaux.