By Chris Williams: WBO super bantamweight champion Nonito Donaire’s wife, Rachel, is reportedly pregnant, and Donaire is saying on his Facebook page that he wants to be with her during this time and he plan on fighting from June through August. Donaire’s promoter Bob Arum is hoping to get Donaire back in the ring in April against fellow Top Rank fighter WBA 122 pound champion Guillermo Rigondeaux, according to Philboxing.com.
A fight between Donaire and Rigondeaux makes the most sense right now because Rigondeaux is an easy fight to be made due to the both guys fighting for the same promotional stable, and Rigondeaux has a title and he’s not over-the-hill or considered a paper champion. Rigondeaux is still relatively young, and he’s fighting on a high level right now.
A lot has been made about how Donaire won the 2012 Fighter of the Year award from ESPN, Ring Magazine, and Yahoo Sports for beating Jorge Arce, Toshiaki Nishioka, Wilfredo Vazquez Jr. and Jeffrey Mathebula, but I think Rigondeaux would have beaten all four of those guys in 2012 if he were to get a fight with them. The thing is with boxing it’s difficult for the lesser known fighters like Rigondeaux to get the bigger names to fight him.
Donaire had no problems getting fights with Arce, Nishioka, Mathebula and Vazquez Jr., but it’s doubtful that Rigondeaux would have gotten any of those guys to agree to fight him because he doesn’t have a huge fan base backing him the way that Donaire does with his large built in Filipino fan base that gives him a lot of support.
This is why it’s going to be tough for Rigondeaux unless he can get Donaire in the ring and pick up a win over him. That’ll open the doors for Rigondeaux in a big way so that the other better known fighters will face. Obviously it’s too late for Rigondeaux to get Nishioka and Arce because those aging former stars have retired from the sport, but Rigondeaux can still get the top guys once he defeats Donaire.
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