By Chris Williams: IBF/WBO super bantamweight champion Nonito Donaire (29-1, 18 KO’s) is convinced that his opponent this Saturday 36-year-old former super bantamweight champion Toshiaki Nishioka (39-4-3, 24 KO’s) is the most dangerous fighter at super bantamweight, even better than WBA World super bantamweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux. I’m pretty sure boxing fans aren’t buying this, because Nishioka has looked awful recently, more like a fading contender than a former champion.

Donaire told Fighthub.tv “I think the most dangerous guy is right behind me, Nishioka. He has more power and he knows how to fight. He’s been in the game a long time and he’s a very dangerous guy.”

I agree with part of that. Nishioka has been around a long time, but the most dangerous guy? I don’t agree. He couldn’t even stop a shot Rafael Marquez last October, and barely beat. We’re talking a WAY past his prime Marquez and Nishioka went life and death with him. I don’t blame Donaire for wanting to try and hype Nishioka as much as possible because he needs to. Boxing fans aren’t really excited about this fight, because they see this fight as a mismatch between a younger guy and an older guy that’s past his prime.

So it’s expected that Donaire would want to try and make Nishioka out to be more than he is. It makes him look better afterwards when he beats the guy. But to say that Nishioka is better than Rigondeaux, that’s going a bit overboard in my view. There’s no way Nishioka is better than Rigondeaux, not now and probably not ever.

Boxing fans want to see Donaire fight Rigondeaux, but he’s saying that Rigondeaux priced himself out for the fight. I wonder what Rigondeaux will say to that? It seems like fighters are using that excuse quite frequently nowadays for why they can’t take fights. It always to be fights that are the dangerous ones to where they might get beaten. So instead of seeing good match-ups like Rigondeaux-Donaire, we have to see Donaire fighting an old guy like Nishioka and then hear Donaire saying how much better he is than Rigondeaux.