By Chris Williams: Trying to get WBO super bantamweight champion Nonito Donaire (28-1,m 18 KO’s) to fight WBA World super bantamweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux (10-0, 8 KO’s) has been like trying to get someone to go to the dentist to have a tooth pulled. Donaire has been less than eager and that’s putting it mildly.

However, Donaire is now saying he’d fight Rigondeaux if it involved them being in a tournament along with Abner Mares and Toshiaki Nishioka. In other words, it doesn’t sound like Donaire is serious about wanting to fight Rigondeaux, because their promoter Bob Arum has never shown any desire to put one of his fighters in a tournament, and I can’t see him starting now.

Donaire told fightfan.com “This is what I propose: I’d love to fight a fight-off, a tournament between the top four guys at super bantamweight. That would be Nishioka, myself, Mares, and Rigondeaux. I think that would be a great way to find out who’s truly the best in this weight division. I think there should be a fight off between the four of us.”

Okay, since that’s not going to happen in this lifetime, how about Donaire skipping the 35-year-old Nishioka and Mares, who fights for Golden Boy Promotions, and got straight to the top by fighting Rigondeaux? Donaire doesn’t need a tournament to fight the best fighter in the division. All he needs is the courage and the desire to do it. Rigondeaux already beat Mares in the amateur ranks, and I think he’d probably beat even worse in the pro ranks. Nishioka is getting old, and hasn’t fought in seven months since his less than impressive in over Rafael Marquez last November. There’s no point in Donaire facing that guy.

As for Donaire’s tournament idea, it isn’t going to happen, so I’d like to see Donaire skip his pie in the sky scenarios for now and simply agree to fight Rigondeaux.

Donaire will be taking on IBF super bantamweight champion Jeffrey Mathebula next week at the Home Depot Center, in Carson, California. There’s not much interest in that fight among the hardcore boxing fans. The casual boxing fans obviously have never even heard of Mathebula, which pretty much ruins the whole idea of Donaire fighting him in the first place.