By Dan Ambrose: It seems like WBO super bantamweight champion Nonito Donaire (28-1, 18 KO’s) has lost his ambition to move up to the featherweight, super featherweight, lightweight and light welterweight divisions to seek out bigger and better things. There had been talk of Donaire doing that if he could continue to dominate like he had at flyweight, super flyweight and bantamweight.

However, Donaire ran into a rock wall in beating former WBO super bantamweight champion Wilfredo Vazquez Jr. last February. Donaire looked terrible and took a lot of punishment in that fight. Vazquez Jr. exposed Donaire as not having the power to dominate like he had at the lower weight classes.

Donaire faces little known IBF super bantamweight title holder Jeffrey Mathebula (26-3-2, 14 KO’s) on July 7th at the Home Depot Center, in Carson, California. If Donaire is successful in winning that fight, he says he plans on trying to face WBC super bantamweight champion Abner Mares in a unification bout or face WBC Emeritus super bantamweight champion Toshiaki Nishioka. Those are two guys Donaire would like to fight back to back.

If he can get those fights and beat both of them, which is no forgone conclusion given how awful Donaire has looked recently, he would then presumably face WBA super bantamweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux. For some reason, Donaire is saving Rigondeaux for last. I don’t know why because he doesn’t seem impressed by him, and you would think Donaire would want to take him on first if he’s supposedly not all that great.

Donaire said this about Rigondeaux to RingTV “In the pro level, he’s very inexperienced. He’s never fought a guy like Fernando Montiel or Vic Darchinyan. I think that even Darchinyan would give him hell if he fought Rigondeaux. So would Montiel. Those guys are just on a different level.”

Is Donaire kidding? It sounds like wishful thinking to me, because both Darchinyan and Montiel are slipping badly as fighters. They look like they’re in a steep decline at this point in their careers, and no way do I believe either of them could hang with Rigondeaux.

Montiel was recently beaten by Victor Terrazas last November, and the 36-year-old Darchinyan has lost his last two fights against Anselmo Moreno and Shinsuke Yamanaka. I see Rigondeaux schooling both of those fighters. I know how it would be good for Donaire if those guys could beat Rigondeaux, because with him out of Donaire’s hair, he’d have a much better chance of unifying the titles. But that’s not going to happen.

Rigondeaux would make mincemeat of Darchinyan, Yamanaka, Montiel or Moreno. I don’t know that Donaire could beat Yamanaka or Moreno. Those would be very tough fights for Donaire, especially after watching how he struggled so badly against Vazquez Jr.