Photo: Adrian Hernandez – By Chris Williams: It looks like former two-division world champion Nonito Donaire (27-1, 18 KO’s) may ultimately fight WBA World super bantamweight champion Guillermo “The Jackal” Rigondeaux (9-0, 7 KO’s) after all, as Donaire and Rigondeaux’s promoter, Bob Arum, told RingTV that Donaire will get to Rigondeaux if Donaire gets by Vazquez Jr., Jorge Arce and Toshiaki Nishioka.
Arum told RingTV “If Nonito wins the fight, then his next fight will be against Arce…Nishioka’s involved [with Donaire’s future plans] and factors in, and Rigondeaux factors in.”
There are a lot of ifs involved, to be sure, but those guys aren’t all that tough compared to Rigondeaux, so Donaire, 29, should be able to beat them. However, Donaire is unproven at super bantamweight and he might not even get past Vazquez Jr. this Saturday night in their fight at the Alamodome in San Atonio, Texas.
A lot of boxing fans are already counting Vazquez Jr. as a win for Donaire but I’m not so certain. If you look at how easily Vazquez Jr. was handling Jorge Arce last May until running out of gas and getting stopped in the 12th round. Vazquez Jr. has excellent size and power and could give Donaire a beating if he’s aggressive like Rafael Concepcion was in his fight with Donaire in 2009.
Donaire was roughed up for 12 rounds by a heavier, stronger Concepcion in that fight and was forced to run when the going got tough in the last four rounds to win. I had Concepcion losing by a couple of rounds but it showed you how vulnerable Donaire is as fighter. If he’s unable to hurt a guy or land his left hook cleanly, he’s a sitting duck and become a vulnerable.
Vazquez Jr. is a pretty rugged guy and likes to fight in the kind of brawling bouts that Donaire prefers. The difference here is that Vazquez Jr. has a naturally bigger frame and has a lower center of gravity compared to the stork-like 5’7” Donaire.
If Vazquez Jr. can land some of his big right hands, he could have the slender-necked Donaire’s head whiplashing on his shoulders like one of those bobbin dolls. A loss for Donaire will give him a good lesson not to look past his opposition to fights into the future.
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