Donaire vs. Darchinyan 2 in doubt for November 9th

By Boxing News - 08/14/2013 - Comments

donaire12352By Chris Williams: Top Rank are looking to put together a rematch that is way past it’s expiration date in Nonito Donaire v. Vic Darchinyan 2 on November 9th in Texas. The fight could possibly not take place, because Darchinyan, 37, doesn’t want to move up to the featherweight division to face Donaire.

Darchinyan prefers that the fight take place at super bantamweight or a catch-weight of 124, but it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen judging by the comments of Donaire’s manager Cameron Dunkin. It looks like they’re ready to walk away from the Darchinyan fight.

Dunkin said to ESPN “Donaire is ready to fight Darchinyan, but Darchinyan is also saying he won’t fight at 126 pounds. So I am going to talk to Carl [Moretti of Top Rank] about changing opponents. Nonito wants to fight at 126 pounds and win a featherweight title. Vic wants to fight at 122 or 124. Ok. I’m sorry about that because Donaire is going to fight at 126.”

So what Dunkin is saying is that Donaire isn’t willing to fight the smaller Darchinyan at a catch-weight or a mere 2 pounds under the weight that Donaire wants to fight at. I don’t see why Donaire wouldn’t be agreeable to fighting Darchinyan at 124, because it’s not as if he’s fought at featherweight before.

That kind of tells me that Donaire might be worried about whether he can get down to 124. There’s talk that Donaire is walking around at 140 lbs., and he’s not out of shape at that weight. Even making 126 could be a problem for Donaire now, because he still has to lose 14 pounds and that’s not easy on a fighter.

There’s no point in Donaire fighting Darchinyan, because he already knocked him out when Darchinyan was in his prime 6 years ago, and Darchinyan is now 37-years-old. He’s lost 2 out of his last 4 fights, and it’s no longer a big fight that it would have been had they fought a rematch shortly after their first fight six years ago.

I can see why Bob Arum might want to put Donaire in with Darchinyan, because it’s a fight that HBO would say yes to due to Darchinyan’s slugging style of fighting, and Darchinyan is a recognizable name with a lot of casual boxing fans. But in terms of it being a competitive match, it won’t be unless Donaire lost something from his last fight in getting dominated by WBA super bantamweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux last April.

It doesn’t look like Top Rank wants to put Donaire back in with Rigondeaux, because it’s been deathly quiet on that front. I guess Donaire doesn’t want to try and avenge his loss.



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