Donaire’s ring return to be delayed; eye injury still healing

By Boxing News - 06/25/2014 - Comments

donaire7By Chris Williams: WBA Super World featherweight champion Nonito Donaire (33-2, 21 KO’s) says his next fight will be delayed due to the deep cut he suffered in his win over WBA Super featherweight champion Simpiwe Vetyeka (26-3, 16 KO’s) on May 31st of last month in Macao, China.

Donaire, 31, might be back in October or possibly later if the cut fails to heal quickly. Donaire needed 11 stiches to have the cut closed up after it opened from either a head clash or an elbow. It’s still unclear how the cut opened because Donaire didn’t drop to his knees until he was hit on his left eye by a left hand by Vetyeka at the end of the round. I still think the cut was caused by a left to the head.

The cut happened in the 1st round, but Donaire was able to fight long enough for the fight be an official bout, at which time the bout was then halted after Donaire had a good round. That was the controversial part about it.

Why wasn’t the fight stopped after the cut first occurred instead of lasting long enough for it to go to a decision, because it would have been a no contest had the bout been halted before 4 rounds had gone by. In the 4th, Donaire knocked Vetyeka down by a shot he didn’t see. But surprisingly, it was Vetyeka who was controlling the action after the flash knockdown.

“My next fight was originally scheduled in September but I’ll need a little more time for my cut to heal,” Donaire said to Philboxing.com. “I don’t really know who my next opponent is. It’s Top Rank that decides and Bob (Arum) has the final say. I’m ready to fight anyone they put me up against. I could fight any of the other world featherweight champions like the WBC’s Jhonny Gonzalez but he’s promoted by Golden Boy or the WBA’s Nicholas Walters or the IBF’s Evgeny Gradovich. Or I could do a rematch against Vetyeka.”

Donaire said he was going to give Vetyeka a rematch when he was interviewed after the fight. But it looks like Donaire has changed his mind about that, because he’s mentioning other names besides Vetyeka, and he’s saying that Arum and Top Rank decide who he’ll fight. Arum was saying after the fight that he would make a rematch between Donaire and Vetyeka because that was a fight that Donaire wanted. But now Donaire is saying that Arum and Top Rank decide who he’ll fight.

I noticed that Donaire didn’t mention Vasyl Lomachenko as one of the guys that he could fight next. Since he’s considered the best fighter in the featherweight division now by many boxing fans, why isn’t Donaire mentioning his name? Why mention the other guys if Lomachenko is the best?
Vetyeka must feel pretty bad after hearing Donaire say he was going to give him a rematch, and now singing a different tune by mentioning other fighters and putting it on Top Rank as the decider of who he fights.



Comments are closed.