By Dan Ambrose: Nonito Donaire (28-1, 18 KO’s) has now picked up the WBO super bantamweight title with his unimpressive win over Wilfredo Vazquez Jr. last weekend at the Alamodome, in San Antonio, Texas.

Donaire took a lot of punishment in that fight, more than he’s ever taken in his pro career. His next objective is go after 32-year-old Jorge Arce (59-6-2, 45 KO’s) in a summer bout, provided that Arce can get by Lorenzo Parra next week on February 18th. As bad as Arce looked last time he fought Parra, I wouldn’t be surprised if he gets beaten this time around.

But Arce will probably win the fight with any luck, and that will set up Donaire’s little money fight against Arce. Really, the Arce-Donaire fight is all about money. Arce is vulnerable and would likely be knocked out in two or three rounds by the better super bantamweights like Guillermo Rigondeaux and Toshiaki Nishioka, but Donaire and his promoter Bob Arum want him next because of Arce’s huge popularity in Mexico.

Abs-cbnnews.com writer Ronnie Nathanielsz had this to say about Arce: “Arce is easy to hit. He doesn’t really have any defense. He cuts very easy, he bleeds a lot. He’s a warrior in spirit and it’s very hard to knock him out. He’s vulnerable to the left hook.”
That about sums it up about Arce. He’s a bleeder, easy to hit and doesn’t have any real defense to speak of. Arce’s offense has always been his defense, but at higher weights like super bantamweight and bantamweight, he’s vulnerable and not able to dominate guy like he did when he was fighting at light flyweight.

Donaire will easily beat him but that’s not saying a whole lot because Arce would be destroyed by the better super bantamweights in the division. I still expect Donaire to take a lot of punishment against Arce because he’ll last long enough to land a lot of head shots, and we saw in the Donaire-Vazquez fight that Donaire marks up easily when hit.