Donaire will struggle if Mathebula doesn’t move at him

By Boxing News - 07/05/2012 - Comments

Image: Donaire will struggle if Mathebula doesn't move at himBy Chris Williams: If you look at any of WBO super bantamweight champion Nonito Donaire’s fights you’ll notice that he does well against fighters that bum rush him like Vic Darchinyan and Fernando Montiel, but does terrible against fighters that box and move like Wilfredo Vazquez Jr. and Omar Narvaez.

Donaire is absolutely terrible against fighters that don’t come at him so that he can time them and nail them with his right hook. That’s Donaire at his best when he has a fighter that bum rush him and make his job easy. Unfortunately the blueprint has been created in how to beat Donaire now that Narvarez and Vazquez Jr. gave him fits. On Saturday night, the wickedly tall 5’10” IBF super bantamweight champion Jeffrey Mathebula (26-3-2m 14 KO’s) is going to test Donaire in their fight at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California.

If you’ve listed to Donaire speak about the fight, he feels certain that Mathebula is going to slug with him and give him a chance to knock him out. However, I’ve seen some of Mathebula’s fights and that’s not the kind of fighter he is. He’s not stupid for one. He’s not going to fight like an idiot by rushing forward with wild haymaker shots to make it easy for Donaire. Mathebula is a technician and he’s going to use his intelligence and his long reach to carve Donaire up from the outside. Mathebula knows what Donaire is all about at this point.

I know Donaire probably won’t like it that Mathebula won’t come and slug with him and leave his chin wide open to be hit, but if Donaire wanted another soft touch he should have leaned on Bob Arum to dig up some more flyweights for him to beat up. Donaire is fighting at super bantamweight now and his power hasn’t carried up with him. At this weight class, Donaire isn’t the puncher he was at flyweight, and he’s going to have to deal with the fact that he’s not going to be able to KO his opponents even if they do fight the way he wants them to.

A loss for Donaire on Saturday will take away his dream of fighting Toshiaki Nishioka and Abner Mares. It probably won’t affect a Guillermo Rigondeaux fight, because Donaire has never shown any interest in fighting him in the first place. That will continue as it was.



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