Former Donaire foes may face each other

MANILA, Philippines – Two former foes of 5-division world champion Nonito Donaire Jr. could square off with each other in the future as the camp of South African boxer Simpiwe Vetyeka is starting a campaign to lure World Boxing Association (WBA) featherweight champion Nicholas Walters into a 12-round encounter.

After dropping the WBA featherweight belt to Donaire by 5th round technical decision in May 2014, Vetyeka (27-3, 16 knockouts) bounced back by routing Arturo Santos Reyes via one-sided verdict last December and became the mandatory challenger for Walters’ gold-plated strap.

In an interview with BoxingScene.com’s Mesuli Zifo, his manager Andile Sidinile stressed that Vetyeka would like to test his mettle against the hard-hitting Jamaican despite being initially hesitant to call out Walters in public after his victory over Reyes.

“We want Walters, but I sense that uncle Bob [Arum] is not too keen on the fight,” Sidinile said.

Top Rank Promotions chief Bob Arum reportedly remains reluctant to put a marquee match-up between both men as he prefers Walters to face World Boxing Organization featherweight champion Vasyl Lomachenko in a title unification bout.

There has been an ongoing debate on who is the best featherweight fighter between Walters and Lomachenko, with several pundits favoring the technically-sound Ukrainian over the 5-foot7 knockout artist.

The 83-year-old promoter eagerly plans to silence the discussion by pitting Walters versus Lomachenko, but it appears that Vetyeka wishes to get his slice of the cake first.

Sidinile asserted in the same report that Walters has loopholes in his game like an ordinary pugilist and added that Vetyeka has the wares to expose it.

“Of course, we will not reveal what we see as Walters’ weaknesses for now until the fight has been clinched,” he teased.

On the other hand, Walters (25-0, 21 KOs) was last seen in action this past October when he scored a spectacular one-punch knockout of Donaire.

Walters turned the lights off on Donaire with a powerful overhand right to the left temple that sent “The Filipino Flash” crashing down to the canvas in the sixth round to claim the WBA-super version of the 126-pound top prize. – Rappler.com