donaire#9 Weigh-In results:

Nonito Donaire 121.6 – Guillermo Rigondeaux 121.5
Jesse Hart 169 – Marlon Farr 171
Dario Soccia 153 – Tyler Canning 150
Erick De Leon 131.5 – Diamond Baier 131.5

Glen Tapia 154.5 – Joseph de los Santos 153
Mikael Zewski 148.5 – Daniel Sostre 147

By Chris Williams: WBO super bantamweight champion Noniton Donaire (31-1, 20 KO’s) is still talking about his stare down with WBA super bantamweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux (11-0, 8 KO’s) they had the other day. Donaire feels that he got the better of Rigondeaux during their prolonged stare down and that’s why Rigondeaux turned his head away, Donaire says.

Donaire said to RingTV “Today is a moral victory in just being able to face off and he felt my energy. Maybe that’s why he looked away from me. I was starting to get heated. That’s when the warrior inside me comes out. Of course I’m going to win.”

I can’t remember ever seeing a fighter make such a big deal about a weigh-in before like I have with Donaire. Usually fighters don’t make any mention of their face offs with their opponents, but Donaire seems to be latching onto it for some reason for some kind of confidence booster for him. Why would he do this if he were a confident fighter? It just looks like Donaire has a lot of self-doubt about this fight that has crept into his mind because he’s looking for any little sign he can get that will boost his spirit and make him feel he’s going to win the fight.

It was Donaire that looked away from Rigondeaux during the stare down, but even if it had been the other way around, who cares? Staring someone down doesn’t mean you’re going to win the fight.

I’ve seen plenty of fighters outstare other guys and then turn around and get knocked out. Out-staring someone doesn’t mean you’re going to win or even be competitive. For all we know, Donaire is going to get knocked to the canvas with the first hard body shot he gets hit with in this fight and end up not beating the count. So what Donaire’s moral victory of the stare down give him then?