By Chris Williams: Last Saturday’s win by Nonito Donaire (28-1, 18 KO’s) over Wilfredo Vazquez Jr. (21-2-1, 18 KO’s) proved conclusively that the 29-year-old Donaire isn’t in the same league as WBA World super bantamweight champion Guillermo Rigondeux (9-0, 7 KO’s).

Donaire looked so incredibly sloppy, weak, exhausted and truly clueless against Vazquez Jr. and nothing like the much more talented and powerful Rigondeaux. Donaire ended up beating Vazquez Jr. by a 12 round split decision in a close right with a lot of toss-up rounds.

Donaire was able to seal the win with a 9th round flash knockdown but before that the outcome was very much in doubt, as Vazquez Jr. really came on in the second half of the fight and began to give Donaire a real pounding. Donaire looked like a fighter that out of touch with how truly bad he looked in there. He constantly taunted Vazquez Jr., dropping his gloves and ducking low while trying to throw wild haymaker punches hoping to KO Vazquez Jr. with a single shot.

Donaire was able to beat the smaller fighters fighting like this in the flyweight, super flyweight and to some extent the bantamweight division, but in moving up in weight to the super bantamweight division, Donaire’s power wasn’t extraordinary and he showed a lot of bad form with his wild swings. It was like watching Roy Jones Jr. after he had lost a lot of his reflexes and was starting to get hit a lot.

Donaire needs to be kept away from Rigondeaux at all costs because that guy would drop Donaire in the first minute of action when Donaire tried one of his wild homerun punches. Rigondeaux would go straight for Donaire’s midsection and would have him rolling around on the canvas in pain.

Donaire is probably going to fight Jorge Arce next and after that probably Toshiaki Nishioka. Rigondeaux will be at the end of the line and will be lucky if he ever gets a shot against Donaire. Donaire’s promoter is Bob Arum and he tends to protect his investments very carefully by not putting them in against guys that they have a chance of losing to. This is why you likely won’t be seeing Donaire put in with Rigondeaux because he’ll lose.