By Dave Lahr: Former IBF flyweight champion Nonito Donaire (25-1, 17 KO’s) is supposed to be the next Manny Pacquiao in the minds of many of Donaire’s loyal fans. I don’t see it. Donaire will be moving up in weight to take on WBC/WBO bantamweight champion Fernando Montiel (44-2, 34 KO’s) on February 19th at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, in Las Vegas, Nevada.

This is going to give the 28-yer-old Donaire an opportunity to prove that he is or isn’t the next Pacquiao by going out and trying to do his thing on Montiel. I really see this going badly for Donaire. Don’t get me wrong, I think Donaire is a good little fighter when matched selectively against smaller, weaker punchers.

If you put Donaire against a small guy like Wladimir Sidorenko and Manuel Vargas, Donaire is going to dominate 100% of the time and score a knockout. But when you put Donaire in with a more powerful puncher like Rafael Concepcion and Montiel, you’re going to see a much different outcome. Indeed, what you’re going to see is Donaire running around the ring like he had his head chopped off.

This is pretty much what Donaire did in his fight with the aggressive and hard hitting Concepcion in August 2009. Donaire was running like no tomorrow to keep from getting hit by Concepcion after tasting a bit of his power and not liking how it felt. You can say that Donaire will do this or that against Montiel, but once Donaire tastes the power from Montiel, it’s going to be off to the races.

You might as well bring a stop watch with you to the fight, because Donaire will be running to keep from getting hit. Once he’s running, Donaire is totally ineffective and it’s going to be all Montiel.