By Chris Williams: Nonito Donaire’s promoter Bob Arum was in fine form last night after Donaire’s 12 round unanimous decision loss to WBA super bantamweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux (12-0, 8 KO’s) in New York. Arum explained away Donaire’s loss in part, saying that he had problems making weight for the fight.
If Arum believes Donaire lost to Rigondeaux due to him having problems making weight then he can always put his theory to a test by putting them back together in the next division at featherweight and see if it was the weight that caused Donaire to get schooled. Don’t hold your breath waiting for Arum to do that because I guarantee you he’s not going to make that fight.
Donaire has fought his last fight against Rigongeaux because Arum isn’t going to let the more popular Donaire take a second spanking from Rigondeaux because it could hurt the Donaire gravy train. We can’t have the Donaire express knocked off the tracks permanently by Rigondeaux and that could potentially happen if Arum matched him up with the lightning fast Cuban for a second fight.
Arum said to ESPN “He [Donaire] had trouble making weight and he has to go up in weight. He blew off the fighter meeting and had to sweat it out to make the weight, so he probably has to go up in weight.”
It sounds like Arum is in the damage control mode right now trying to excuse away Donaire’s loss so that boxing fans don’t abandon him like rats from a sinking ship.
Well, I do agree with Arum about Donaire needing to move up in weight because he looked like the super bantamweight division’s version of Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. last night. He was huge compared to Rigondeaux, but this isn’t anything new.
Donaire has been huge for the super bantamweight division ever since he moved up in weight and he arguably should be fighting as a lightweight. I don’t’ think the featherweight division is going to be the answer for Donaire, but I can understand why he won’t be making a jump up to lightweight because at featherweight he can still have a big size advantage over a lot of the guys he fights.
Donaire didn’t lose the fight because of his weight problems. He lost to Rigondeaux because he didn’t have enough talent. Arum can make the fight at featherweight, super featherweight or lightweight and the results would be the same. Donaire would get clowned by Rigondeaux just like he was last night.
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