Arum wants Nonito Donaire vs. Nicholas Walters next

By Boxing News - 11/11/2013 - Comments

donaire99By Chris Williams: While Nonito Donaire (32-2, 21 KO’s) may have been talking last Saturday night after his win over Vic Darchinyan about wanting to avenge his loss to Cuban WBA/WBO super bantamweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux next, Donaire’s promoter Bob Arum is reportedly targeting WBA featherweight title holder Nicholas Walkers (23-0, 19 KO’s) for Donaire’s next fight instead of Rigondeaux.

Arum told RingTV “Walters punches like a mule. He’s not technically great, but geez, is he strong. That fight [Donaire vs. Walkers] would be a great fight. It would be bombs away. We’ll have to talk to Donaire to see when he’s ready to fight again. Walkers ready to go as soon as possible, so we’ll figure it out.”

It sounds like Arum has his mind made up that he wants to match Donaire against Walkers. That doesn’t sound like there’s going to be any real decision making between him and Donaire about the Donaire fight other than when will Donaire be ready. I’m kind of not surprised that Arum is matching Donaire against Walters because I never thought for a second that Arum would put Donaire back in with Rigondeaux in this lifetime.

I don’t know why Donaire even bothered to mention Rigondeaux’s name last Saturday when he was interviewed by HBO’s Max Kellerman following Donaire’s 9th round stoppage win over 37-year-old past his prime Vic Darchinyan. All I can think of as to why Donaire mentioned Rigondeaux was to name drop to impress his fans. It’s too bad that boxing fans won’t likely get a chance to see Donaire face Rigondeaux again because it would have been interesting to see if Donaire could have avenged the defeat or not.

You have to wonder why Arum isn’t putting Donaire back in with Rigondeaux or trying to match him against the winner of the Salido-Lomachenko fight. What does that mean that Arum is steering Donaire towards an arguably easier opponent in Walters?

Walkers, 27, is considered by some to be the 8th or 9th best featherweight in the division despite the fact that he holds down the WBA belt. In other words, Walkers is a title holder but not close to being one of the top 5 guys at featherweight. There had been talk that Donaire wanted to fight the winner of the Orlando Salido vs. Vasyl Lomachenko fight, but it looks like Arum has other ideas. It’s probably good idea that Arum not put Donaire in with the Salido-Lomachenko winner or back in with Rigondeaux, because all three of those fighters would figure to be far too talented or strong for Donaire.

If Donaire picks up the WBA featherweight title by beating Walters, he would be more or less taking the easy path to a featherweight title rather than the grueling path of trying to beat the likes of Jhonny Gonzalez, Salido, Lomachenko or Evegeny Gradovich.

Walters stopped Alberto Garza in the 4th round last Saturday night on the same card as Donaire-Darchinyan. Walters doesn’t look as powerful as Darchinyan, and he looks badly flawed. He has an unbeaten record but he’s not fought anyone that you could call a good fighter. Walters picked up the vacant WBA title last December in defeating Daulis Prescott by a 7th round stoppage.



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