By Chris Williams: WBA/WBC super middleweight champion Andre Ward believes his close friend Nonito Donaire (27-1, 18 KO’s) would fight a lot different fight against newly crowned World Boxing Association (WBA) World super bantamweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux (9-0, 7 KO’s) compared to the way WBA super bantamweight champion Rico Ramos did in getting stopped in the 6th round last Friday night.

Ward feels that Donaire would be on Rigondeaux and would bring the fight to him.

Speaking with examiner.com writer Chris Robinson, Ward said “If Donaire fights Rigondeaux, he’s going to bring it. He’s fast, he’s powerful, he does a lot of different stuff; it’s going to be a different night if Rigondeaux fights Nonito.”

Ward probably won’t need to worry about Donaire fighting a dangerous opponent like Rigondeaux, as Donaire is facing Wilfredo Vazquez Jr. (21-1-1, 18 KO’s) on February 4th for the vacant WBO super bantamweight title in San Antonio, Texas. Donaire is expected to win that fight, as Vazquez Jr. recently knocked out by Jorge Arce.

After Donaire fights Vazquez, he’ll be looking to fight Arce next and then he could move up in weight to the featherweight division to get matched against Yuiorkis Gamboa or Juan Manuel Lopez. The Lopez fight would depend on whether Lopez is able to beat WBO featherweight champion Orlando Salido in their rematch on March 10th. But a fight against Gamboa is definitely one that can be made. I think Donaire would lose to either Lopez or Gamboa.

Those guys would be able to take Donaire’s best shots and give it back to him. Donaire would have to run in order to survive. I suspect he’ll get knocked out by both and find himself back in the super bantamweight division. Hopefully when Donaire comes back down, he’ll be interested in facing Rigondeaux then. I kind of doubt it though. Rigondeaux is an expert counter puncher and would have no problems taking away Donaire’s left hook and making him look silly like he did Ramos last Friday.