Quigg interested in Donaire fight after Kiko Martinez

By Boxing News - 07/06/2015 - Comments

donaire75By Scott Gilfoid: If WBA World super bantamweight champion Scott Quigg (30-0-2, 22 KOs) gets past former IBF 122lb champion Kiko Martinez (32-5, 24 KOs) in their fight on July 18th, Quigg could be facing former four division world champion Nonito Donaire (34-3, 22 KOs) in his next fight after that.

Donaire has a fight scheduled against France’s Anthony Settoul (20-3, 8 KOs) on July 18th at the Cotai Arena, Venetian Resort, in Macao, Macao S.A.R., China. If Donaire wins his fight and Quigg beats Martinez in their fight at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, UK, then we could be seeing Donaire and Quigg mixing it up.

Quigg is reportedly “very interested” in the Donaire fight, according to Philboxing.com.

Donaire is ranked #3 WBO, #11 IBF at super bantamweight. He might be better off facing WBA Super World super bantamweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux, because he’s the guy that defeated Donaire two years ago in April 2013. Donaire has won three out of his last four fights since that defeat. His only loss was to Nicholas Walters in October of 2014. Donaire has looked good in all of his fights. He was beaten by a welterweight-sized Walters last year, but other than that one loss, Donaire has looked good.

Whether Quigg faces Donaire or not will likely come down to Quigg’s promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Sport. If he wants the fight between Quigg and Donaire, then it’ll happen. But if Hearn feels that it’s not a winnable fight for Quigg, then it’s probably not going to happen. Hearn is a pretty shrewd promoter. He seems to know what his fighters are capable of doing.

With IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook’s negotiations with Top Rank for a fight between Brook and Brandon Rios, the negotiations are dragging on and on over a rematch clause that Brook wants in the contract. I wonder if this isn’t a fight that Hearn is keen to make due to the high risk involved for Brook. As such, I doubt that Hearn is going to let Quigg fight a talent like Donaire. If we’re not seeing a Brook-Rios fight, or a Lee Selby vs. Vasy Lomachenko fight, then I don’t think for a second we’re going to see Quigg fight someone like Donaire. We’re not seeing Quigg fight Rigondeaux, are we?

While Quigg might want to fight Donaire, I think Hearn will be the one that will nix that idea. Quigg makes too much good clean cash fighting the guys that Hearn drags into the ring to face him, and I don’t see Hearn wanting to mess that up.

With Lee Selby saying he doesn’t want to fight Lomachenko for three years, I have a feeling that we’re not going to see Quigg take the fight with Rigondeaux. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was Hearn that told Selby that he should wait a while before he faces Lomachenko.

What’s lost in all of this is the fact that Quigg isn’t a good enough fighter to assume that he’s going to be a big puncher like Kiko Martinez. I see that fight as a really even one.

If Quigg and Donaire ever do face each other, I see Donaire destroying Quigg in lightning fashion.



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