Donaire re-ups with Top Rank

By Boxing News - 11/05/2015 - Comments

donaire788884443By Chris Williams: 32-year-old former four division belt holder Nonito Donaire (35-3, 23 KOs) has re-upped with Top Rank with a contract extension “for more than a year,” Donaire said to ESPN.com. If it’s more than a year, you have to figure that the contract will take Donaire to the point where his career is basically over with for all practical purposes.

There are already a lot of boxing fans who see Donaire as a shot fighter. If he’s signed with Top Rank for more than a year, then we’re talking about the contract being at least 2 years, possibly even longer than that. Donaire is already seen as not being in the class of Guillermo Rigondeaux, Carl Frampton and Scott Quigg in the eyes of a lot of boxing fans.

Next month, Donaire will be fighting Cesar Juarez (17-3, 13 KOs) for the vacant WBO super bantamweight title that was recently stripped off champion Rigondeaux by the World Boxing Organization for him failing to defend the title within a year’s time. The Donaire-Juarez fight will be televised on truTV from a still to be determined venue in San Juarez, Puerto Rico. Donaire lost to Rigondeaux by a lopsided 12 round decision two years ago in 2013.

Donaire moved up to featherweight but was knocked out by Nicholas Walters last year in October. Donaire then spent all of 2015 in fighting mismatches against William Prado and Anthony Settoul. Donaire’s fight against the 24-year-old Juarez figures to be a mismatch as well, as he’s never fought anyone good and he already has three losses. It’s unknown why the WBO has Juarez ranked so highly at No.1 with their organization because none of the other sanctioning bodies do. In looking at Juarez’s resume, I think he’s only good enough to be a bottom 15 guy. The WBO can do better than Juarez in ranking their fighters at 122, because this is a really poor ranking.

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“Nonito came to the office to meet with me and sign the contract. And he said, ‘No more fooling around, no more being a celebrity. I’m a fighter, and I’m going to work hard and stay in the gym, and you will see the best Nonito Donaire you’ve ever seen,'” Donaire’s promoter Bob Arum said to ESPN.com. “I think Donaire is really serious now. He’s a great fighter, and I don’t count him out against anybody.”

I think it’s no longer about Donaire training hard. I think it’s now about him being a 32-year-old fighter who is no longer the young guy he was years ago. Donaire isn’t the same fighter that was voted in as the 2012 ‘Fighter of the year’ for his wins over little Jorge Arce, Toshiaki Nishioka, Wilfredo Vazquez Jr. and Jeffrey Mathebula. Donaire has aged since those four fights. But even if he was still at that level, we’re talking about wins over weak opposition. None of those guys are major players in the 122lb division any longer. The division has gotten better and Donaire hasn’t.

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I don’t know what Top Rank is hoping to get out of Donaire at this point in his career in terms of his accomplishing anything. About the best I can see from him is him becoming the WBO paper champion after he beats the little known Juarez.



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