By Chris Williams: We just saw Nonito Donaire (28-1, 18 KO’s) struggle to beat Wilfredo Vazquez Jr. last February with Donaire scrapping by 1ith a 12 round split decision win against fighter that had been stopped by the smaller Jorge Arce seven months earlier in 2011 in a 12th round knockout loss. Donaire’s once impressive power seems to have completely disappeared now that he’s moved up to super bantamweight. At this weight class, Donaire looks like a skinny guy with a slightly fat stomach. The weight Donaire put on when he moved up in weight appears to have been fat around his midsection.

Donaire hasn’t stopped an opponent since last year in February when he took out the smallish 5’4″ former super flyweight Fernando Montiel. Stopping Montiel wasn’t such a big deal because he’s someone that rose in weight to get to the bantamweight division. But now Donaire has faced two guys – Omar Narvaez and Vazquez Jr. – and failed to hurt either of them with his power. You have to wonder what happened to Donaire? He’s no longer getting the knockouts and he’s taking punishment now that he’s moved up to the super bantamweight division.

It’s funny that they were talking about how Donaire would move up to the featherweight, super featherweight and possibly the lightweight division to face the best fighters in those divisions. There was talk of Donaire fighting Juan Manuel Lopez, Yuriorkis Gamboa and Orlando Salido. You’re hearing that talk anymore, as Donaire looked very average and not particularly powerful in beating Vazquez Jr. last February. It would be scary to imagine Donaire moving up to featherweight and above. He would be so far above his level that he would likely be forced to run the entire fight. He’s not going to be moving up in weight any time soon and when he does eventually, I see nothing but bad things happening unless Donaire is matched against weak opponents.

What’s really telling about Donaire is who he’s being matched against since winning the vacant WBO super bantamweight title. Instead of being matched against guys like Guillermo Rigondeaux, the WBC champion, Donaire is being put in with the light-hitting former super flyweight champion Cristian Mijares on July 14th. That kind of tells you that they might not have much confidence in Donaire, because Mijares is not even close to being as good as Ringondeaux.