By Chris Williams: Bob Arum, the promoter for WBO super bantamweight champion Nonito Donaire (31-1, 20 KO’s), says he’ll try and set him up with a fight against WBC super bantamweight champion Abner Mares (25-0, 13 KO’s) as soon as Mares gets finished defending his World Boxing Council 122 pound title against his mandatory challenger Victor Terrzaz.

Speaking with 8countnews.com, Arum said “He [Mares] has a mandatory with Victor Terrazaz, but once he’s done with his mandatory, I’ll offer him a deal to fight Donaire.”

We’ll see if this actually happens. I have a feeling that this won’t happen, and that Mares will never get an offer. Donaire is already talking about moving to featherweight to go after titles in that weight class and I think once he goes up to that weight there will be no looking back.

Arum has said recently that he wants to match Donaire up against WBA Super bantamweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux. We’ll see if that fight actually happens because Donaire may not stick around and negotiate a fight if Rigondeaux attempts to get a good deal. The problem that Rigondeaux has is he doesn’t have a big name like Donaire’s last opponent Jorge Arce.

That’s a problem because he doesn’t have the bargaining power to try and get a better deal the way that Arce was able to. In that case, we may see Donaire simply move up in weight to featherweight. There are rumors that he could end up facing WBA featherweight champion Chris John. I have a feeling that Donaire will never face Rigondeaux or Mares. I guess it’s easy not to fight them if they ask for too much money and there are other guys like John who Donaire can fight.

Mares and Rigondeaux aren’t guaranteed wins for Donaire, unlike the four fighters that Donaire fought in 2012. Two of them were past their best – Toshiaki Nishioka and Jorge Arce – and weren’t in the position to beat Donaire. Rigondeaux and Mares are two fighters that there’s no telling what will happen if they get put in with Donaire, which is why I don’t think they’ll get the chance.