by Chris Williams: WBO super bantamweight champion Nonito Donaire (28-1, 18 KO’s) will be getting another chance to try and impress the boxing world this Saturday night against IBF super bantamweight champion Jeffrey Mathebula (26-3-2, 14 KO’s) on HBO at then Home Depot Center, in Carson, California. Donaire, 29, has failed to impress in his last two fights against Omar Narvaez and Wilfredo Vazquez Jr.

A new star in the division, WBA World super bantamweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux, is quickly catching up to Donaire and surpassing him with much more exciting fights and superior performance from start to finish. Since Donaire isn’t interested in facing Rigondeaux, he’s got to settle for showing how he’s the better fighter by facing other opposition, such as Mathebula, who few people aside from hardcore boxing fans have ever heard of. Donaire has to keep impressing because Rigondeaux is looking a lot better each time out.

Donaire blamed his last poor performance against Vazquez Jr. on him not wanting to mix it up. Donaire told the Sports.inquirer.net “The kid didn’t want to open up and I needed him to open up. So I put my face in front of him because all he wanted to do was throw a jab.”

I guess Donaire is giving an explanation why his face looked all red by the end of the Vazquez Jr. fight. But he didn’t look impressive because he power didn’t have any affect on Vazquez Jr. It looks like Donaire’s power didn’t travel up with him now that he’s moved up in weight from the bantamweight division.

Mathebula likes to mix it up and will be coming after Donaire in the way that he likes his opponents to. However, if Donaire still can’t impressively beat this guy then there’s a problem there. I think it might suggest that Donaire doesn’t have the power at this weight to beat the best guys like Rigondeaux, and will need to face guys like Mathebula and Vazquez Jr. to keep winning.