By Chris Williams: Former four division world champion Nonito Donaire (33-3, 21 KOs) will be looking to make a statement this month in his fight against little known William Prado (22-4-1, 15 KOs) on March 28th at the Araneta Coliseum, Barangay Cubao, Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines.
Donaire, 32, is coming off of a 6th round knockout loss to WBA featherweight champion Nicholas Walters last October. The loss was a big enough disappointment for Donaire to cause him to move back down to super bantamweight to try and reinvent his career in that weight class.
But instead of taking on a top contender at 122, Donaire will be fighting a 31-year-old Brazilian fighter from the 2nd tier, who has lost three out of his last six fights. Just what Donaire hopes to prove from beating Prado is unclear.
Donaire told the Manilastandardtoday.com he will “make a statement in this fight and the nest and then go up after the world titles.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fy5oQPxL4cs
I’m sure WBA/WBO super bantamweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux will gladly accommodate Donaire by giving him a shot at his titles after the Prado fight, but I don’t see Donaire getting a title shot against WBC champion Leo Santa Cruz, WBA champ Scott Quigg or IBF champion Carl Frampton. Santa Cruz is with Al Haymon, whereas Donaire is with Top Rank. That pretty much means no Donaire-Santa Cruz fight.
As for Donaire’s prospects of fighting Quigg or Frampton, I don’t see that happening either. Those guys want to fight each other, and if they’re not fighting each other, then they’re fighting easier options like Chris Avalos and Hidenori Otake. They’re probably not going to bother fighting Donaire until the WBA or IBF makes him the mandatory challenger.
Donaire says “it’s time to be smart again.”
He thinks he made a lot of mistakes in his last fight against Walters. He sees his loss being a case of him making mistakes rather than him fighting a younger, stronger and better fighter in Walters.
I’m not sure that Donaire lost to Walters because of mistakes or him not fighting a smart fight. I just saw it as a situation where Donaire finally faced someone his own size with equally good power, and Donaire couldn’t handle it.
Part of Donaire’s problem is obviously age, but that’s not something that he can fix.
Donaire can’t move around like he used to, and even if he tries, I see him only being able to do it for a round or two before he gets tired and starts trading.
Donaire lost the fight to Walters because he didn’t have the talent to beat him. Even if Donaire had moved all night long against him, Walters would have picked him off with jabs and won an easy 12 round decision.
Beating Prado will get Donaire back in the win column, but he’s still going to have to wait around for a while before he gets another world title shot, unless he’s open to the idea of fighting Rigondeaux again.
I don’t think Donaire wants any part of fighting the tough Cuban again, so I see Donaire waiting for a shot against one of the other world champions at 122. That means we’re probably going to see Donaire wait until 2016, possibly 2017 before he gets a world title shot.
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