Donaire gets ESPN Boxer of the Year Award

By Boxing News - 12/24/2012 - Comments

donaire42By Chris Williams: WBO super bantamweight champion Nonito Donaire has been given the ESPN Boxer of the Year, which isn’t the same as the Fighter of The Year. That one hasn’t been determined yet. Donaire was selected for the Boxer of the Year award by ESPN for Donaire’s victories over aging past their best fighters Jorge Arce and Toshiaki Nishioka, as well as a win over a recently knocked out Wilfredo Vazquez Jr. and the little known former IBF champ Jeffrey Mathebula.

According to ESPN, big factors in Donaire getting the award were his moving up in weight and dominating the guys that he fought. Also the drug testing that Donaire volunteered to take.

My take on this is I don’t see Donaire as having accomplished enough to be even in the top in the Boxer/Fighter of the Year Award. It’s not about who Donaire fought, which in this case was old and flawed fighters, it’s about who Donaire didn’t fight. He didn’t fight Abner Mares and Guillermo Rigondeaux, both of which are clearly the best fighters at super bantamweight.

Donaire tried to say that Nishioka was the best fighter in the division, an idea that never caught on with boxing fans no matter how many times that Donaire made this claim. Donaire saying Nishioka was the best fighter in the super bantamweight division would be like Wladimir Klitschko trying to make boxing fans believe that Evander Holyfield was still the best in the division. No would buy it, and he’d be talking for nothing.

Donaire did fight better than fellow Filipino Manny Pacquiao, but that wasn’t saying a whole lot because Pacquiao got beaten twice in 2012 and picked up no wins during the year. Of course, Pacquiao is 34, and has captured 8 division world titles compared to the 3 division world titles that Donaire has accomplished. I never rated Pacquiao’s 8 world titles because in many cases he didn’t fight the best in the divisions that he briefly fought at, and he had some catchweight titles at welterweight and junior middleweight involved. However, for Donaire to equal what Pacquiao has accomplished he’ll have to move quickly with his career because he’s already 30-years-old.

Even if Donaire were to take the easy path by fighting the weakest paper champion in each division, I don’t see him making it to the lightweight division and winning a world title. There’s soft champions at featherweight and super featherweight, so it’s possible he can pick up belts in those divisions, but I can’t see him going to lightweight and definitely not light welterweight. Can you picture Donaire facing Danny Garcia or Lucas Mattysse, not that he would necessarily fight those guys if he moved up to that weight.

If Donaire were able to move all the way up to welterweight and win world titles he’d equal Pacquiao’s feat of 8 world titles, but the chances of Donaire accomplishing that are slim and none. But I have a feeling that Donaire’s promoter Bob Arum will look to move him up through the path of least resistance in moving up to featherweight and then super featherweight depending on how things go. In other words, I don’t see Arum matching Donaire against the likes of Orlando Solido or Mikey Garcia when he moves up to featherweight.



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