By Chris Williams: Trainer Robert Garcia is really pleased with how Nonito Donaire (31-2, 20 KO’s) is looking in his preparation for 37-year-old Vic Darchinyan (39-5-1, 28 KO’s) in their rematch 2 months from now on November 9th in Corpus Christi, Texas, USA.
Garcia says Donaire is less than 10 pounds away from the featherweight limit (126 lbs), and he can’t think of when he’s looked better.
Garcia told Hustleboss “Believe me, right now Nonito is probably better than ever. I had never seen him like this with two months before this fight. He’s about, I would say, no more than seven or eight pounds from the division where he’s going to fight. I had never seen him like that….man, he’s fast and strong.”
It’s doubtful that Donaire is better than ever. Garcia was talking up Donaire before his last fight and we saw what happened in that fight.
Donaire was badly schooled by WBA super bantamweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux in a one-sided 12 round unanimous decision loss last April. Rather than battling Rigondeaux again, Donaire is fighting a guy [Darchinyan] that he already knocked out in the 5th round 6 years ago in 2007. Darchinyan isn’t the same fighter he was even back then, because he’s lost 2 out of his last 4 fights.
It does look strange that Donaire is fighting Darchinyan instead of Rigondeaux. What is this move all about? Is Top Rank counting on the casual boxing fans not having any memory of Donaire’s loss to Rigondeaux or have they simply accepted his loss and moved on?
It’s going to be tough for Donaire to win over the hardcore boxing fans that saw him get dominated by Rigondeaux, especially with Donaire going in the opposite direction and fighting guys like Darchinyan instead of Rigondeaux again. It doesn’t make a lot of sense that Donaire is moving up to featherweight and fighting a super bantamweight in Darchinyan. If Donaire is going to be fighting in the featherweight division, then he should be fighting featherweights, not super bantamweights.
Darchinyan wanted to fight Donaire at a catch-weight in between super bantamweight and featherweight, but Donaire failed to agree to it. Darchinyan is going to be giving up size against a fighter that already knocked him out, and this is coming at a really bad period of Darchinyan’s career with him having lost 2 out of his last 4 fights.
It’s understandable that Donaire would want to get a confidence booster after an embarrassing loss like the one he experienced against Rigondeaux, but he should at least be facing people in the division that he’s going to be fighting in, shouldn’t he?
Donaire will beat Darchinyan on November 9th, but that’s not saying much because Darchinyan has looked terrible recently and beaten twice in defeats against Anselmo Moreno and Shinsuke Yamanaka. What’s going to be interesting is what direction Top Rank takes with Donaire at featherweight.
Does Top Rank they steer Donaire to safer waters against IBF champion Evgeny Gradovich or they take a chance and put Donaire in with WBC champion Jhonny Gonzalez. If it’s Gonzalez, then Donaire will have to wait a while before he gets that fight because Gonzalez will likely face Abner Mares in a rematch soon.
If Mares beats Gonzalez then it’s highly doubtful that Golden Boy Promotions will give Donaire a shot against Mares. That means Donaire will have to fight Gradovich or possibly WBA champion Chris John.
It’s doubtful that Chris John will give Donaire a title shot until he becomes his mandatory challenger. That leaves only Gradovich. That’s a tough fight for Donaire because Gradovich is a pretty rugged fighter. Donaire won’t likely go for the vacant WBO featherweight champion because the #2 contender is Gary Russell Jr., and he’s like another Rigondeaux.
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