Two years ago, "The Filipino Flash" Nonito Donaire was on top of the world. He was the 2012 "Fighter of the Year". He defeated champions and former champions in the super bantamweight division, Wilfredo Vazquez Jr., Jeffrey Mathebula, Toshiaki Nishioka and Jorge Arce in the same year.
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Donaire (32-2, 21 KO's) was set to begin 2013 with a big bang. He took on Cuban Olympic medalist Guillermo Rigondeaux. But Donaire was schooled by the technically superb fighter---although he scored a knockdown. The status earned for the hard work that Donaire put together in 2012 slipped from his hands. And so with Rigondeaux as HBO network blamed him for being a "boring" fighter.
Donaire moved on and took old rival Vic Darchinyan in a rematch. Donaire was struggling throughout the fight until his power took over in the ninth round. What really happened to Donaire in 2013 he surely knows.
On Saturday, 31 May 2014, Donaire will move to 126-pound division and will face featherweight champion Simpiwe Vetyeka (26-2, 16 KO's) for the WBA title at the Cotai Arena, in Macau.
"I re-evaluated everything. I moved my training camp to the Philippines to take advantage of the heat and humidity and to eliminate the distractions I had in Las Vegas. It was a great move. I let a lot of things I worked hard to achieve slip through my fingers last year. I want to return to where I was in 2012 and go beyond that for the reminder of my boxing career."
In an interview with ABS-CBN in Macau, Vetyeka, who trains for three months in South Africa, told that he's excited with his first title defense and he choose to fight Donaire himself because he wants his name to become bigger in boxing. He added also that his killer punch is ready for Donaire. Vetyeka's name came in from nowhere when he upset former undefeated Chris John of Indonesia.
Trainer Robert Garcia also told ABS-CBN that, "If Nonito doesn't fight smart, then he could be in trouble. But Nonito is a very smart fighter."
My pick
Donaire is more experience and skilled than Vetyeka. Although Vetyeka stopped highly skilled and undefeated Chris John; that because John is no longer in his prime and don't have enough power to give Vetyeka hesitation to attack. Against Donaire---once Vetyeka tasted Donaire's power left hook---he will think twice before lunging his attacks. Nonito needs only to fight smart, make Vetyeka miss and let him pay with precise power counters.
Donaire TKO 10.
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