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MANILA, Philippines – Five-division world champion Nonito Donaire Jr. decides to move back to the super bantamweight division after having three bouts as a featherweight.
In an interview with ESPN’s Dan Rafael, Donaire’s manager Cameron Dunkin revealed that his valued client has considered to make his return to super bantamweight, which has a weight limit of 122 pounds.
“Nonito wants to fight and we’ll get him fighting again. He knows he can’t fight at that weight (126 pounds). He can beat a lot of featherweights, don’t get me wrong. But he’s used to beating everyone and being the best. He’s going back to 122 where he can do that,” Dunkin stated.
The 32-year-old Donaire (33-3, 21 knockouts) had success as a super bantamweight competitor, unifying three title belts in 2012 by thumping the likes of Wilfredo Vazquez Jr., Jeffrey Mathebula and Toshiaki Nishioka.
Moreover, he concluded his impressive 2012 campaign on a high note by knocking out 4-division titlist Jorge Arce in the third round.
In the same year, Donaire received the “Fighter of the Year” award from the Boxing Writers Association of America.
However, the 5-foot-5 switch-hitter tasted a disappointing defeat the following year as he bowed to Cuban boxer Guillermo Rigondeaux via unanimous decision.
After his lackluster performance against Rigondeaux, Donaire climbed up to featherweight and had a triumphant run in his first two outings, pulling off a come-from-behind victory over Vic Darchinyan in a November 2013 rematch before thumping Simpiwe Vetyeka by technical decision to capture the World Boxing Association (WBA) featherweight strap in May 2014.
“We had talked about it before the fight for a long time about moving up in weight all the time. I was against it. Those guys are so big, but he said, ‘Don’t worry. I’ll take care of it.’ And he did. He won some fights at 126, but he didn’t look like the Nonito we were used to,” Dunkin shared about Donaire’s decision to ascend from junior featherweight.
Donaire unfortunately failed to make it three in a row as a 126-pound pugilist when he dropped the WBA world title to Nicholas Walters in October 2014.
Walters knocked out Donaire with a powerful overhand right to the left temple that sent “The Filipino Flash” crashing down to the canvas in the 6th round.
“After [the Walters fight] was over, he said, ‘You’re right, I can’t fight these guys at 126. They’re just too big.’ So he’ll go back down to 122 and become a champion again. He’s not done and he has a lot of pride,” Dunkin said.
Top Rank Promotions chief Bob Arum reportedly eyes Donaire’s return to action in the second quarter of 2015 and plans to stage the bout in the Philippines or Macau.
The 83-year-old promoter has not named any opponent for the Filipino’s comeback assignment as of the moment.
The potential counterparts that Donaire could face in his homecoming to super bantamweight are Rigondeaux, Leo Santa Cruz, Carl Frampton and Scott Quigg.
Rigondeaux holds the WBA, World Boxing Organization and lineal titles, while Santa Cruz owns the World Boxing Council-version of the weight class’ top prize.
On the other hand, Frampton and Quigg possess the International Boxing Federation and WBA regular belts respectively. – Rappler.com
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