Mathebula will show Donaire his own power on Saturday

By Boxing News - 07/03/2012 - Comments

By Chris Williams: WBO super bantamweight champion Nonito Donaire (28-1, 18 KO’s) has a reputation for being a big puncher from his days as a flyweight and super flyweight. However, since moving up weight to first the bantamweight and now the super bantamweight divisions, Donaire’s power has pretty much abandoned him to where he’s now just a fighter that has to get by with his boxing skills instead of his power like in the old days.

Donaire will be fighting a unification bout on Saturday night against IBF super bantamweight champion Jeffrey Mathebula (26-3-2, 14 KO’s), who plans on showing Donaire the kind of power that he has. Unlike Donaire, the 5’10” Mathebula hasn’t lost his power because he’s always fought at either super bantamweight or featherweight. In other words, Mathebula is at his natural weight and hasn’t recently moved up to the 122 pound division like the 29-year-old Donaire has.

Mathebula told RingTV “I can punch and I can take a punch…I want to give a good fight to HBO, Top Rank and Nonito.”

Mathebula is going to give it everything he can to win this fight, and those are the most dangerous fighters someone can face. He’s coming from South Africa and he plans on really giving it to Donaire to show what he’s got. It’s a highly important fight for Mathebula because a lot of viewers will be watching on HBO in the United States. If he can derail Donaire, he’ll likely be able to lock in a rematch that will bring him even more money. Mathebula could pull off an upset here, because Donaire isn’t what he once was at the lighter weights and he’s definitely hittable. Donaire wants to impress by shooting for a knockout.

This will make him vulnerable to Mathebula’s power shots and long reach. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Donaire loses this fight, because everything he accomplished is in the distant past at lighter weights. It’s a whole different ball game at 122lbs and with Donaire near 30. That’s not old but it can be for smaller fighters like Donaire.



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