By Chris Williams: Nonito Donaire (32-2, 21 KO’s) will be getting a title shot against IBO/WBA Super World featherweight champion Simpiwe Vetyeka (26-2, 16 KO’s) on May 10th at the Cotai Arena, Venetian Resort, Macao, Macao S.A.R., China. Donaire, 31, hasn’t done much to deserve the title shot considering he has never fought an actual featherweight before. He’s getting the title shot off of beating super bantamweight Vic Darchinyan, who he pulled up to the featherweight division in his last fight in their needless rematch last November.
It was a pointless rematch because Donaire had already knocked Darchinyan out in 5 rounds in 2007, so there really wasn’t any point in Donaire fighting the much smaller Darchinyan again and there definitely wasn’t any point in fighting him at featherweight. Donaire should have fought a real featherweight so that he earn a title shot against Vetyeka.
Vetyeka, 33, is a champion that gives Donaire his best chance at winning a belt in the featherweight division, because the other champions – Evgeny Gradovich, Orlando Salido, Nicholas Walters and Jhonny Gonzalez – would be really tough for Donaire because they can punch as hard if not harder than him and they can do this with every shot they throw. It would be a whole new experience for Donaire if he were to fight one of them because it wouldn’t be a situation where he’s got his usual huge advantage in size and punching power. Against one of them, Donaire would be getting hit with shots that he’s never been hit with. But against the 34-year-old Vetyeka, Donaire has a better than average chance of winning the fight.
Vetyeka beat a past his best Chris John last December in stopping the 34-year-old John in the 6th round. Before that, Vetyeka had never really done much with his career other than lose to the likes of Hozumi Hasegawa and Klaas Mboyane. He did beat Daud Cino Yordan by a 12th round TKO last year in April, but that and his win over a faded John was the high point of his career.
If Top Rank has plans on moving Donaire up to super featherweight and then lightweight to try and turn him into another Manny Pacquiao in terms of winning multiple world titles, I don’t think that would be a good idea at all. Donaire doesn’t have the speed or the power to keep moving up in weight. Even if they were to scout out the weakest champion each time, I don’t think Donaire could even capture a title at super featherweight. He’s better off staying at featherweight or maybe even moving back down depending on how things go in the Vetyeka fight.
I don’t think Donaire will be able to hold onto the WBA featherweight title for long if he beats Vetyeka because as soon as he gets in the ring with someone like Gary Russell Jr., Donaire is likely going to get beaten and stopped. Russell Jr. is like the featherweight division’s version of Guillermo Rigondeaux, and he’ll have too much speed for Donaire to handle. Russell Jr. is actually ranked higher than Donaire at #3 WBA, and I wonder how he feels about the thought of Donaire being able to jump ahead of him for a title shot when he’s never even fought a legitimate featherweight before. With Russell Jr’s ranking, he’ll soon be fighting for the WBA title, because he can’t be avoided forever.
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