Donaire still convinced that Nishioka is #1 at 122

[litolapid]

C/P

Chris Williams: IBF/WBO super bantamweight champion Nonito Donaire (29-1, 18 KO’s) is still continuing with his mantra that former WBC super bantamweight champion Toshiaki Nishioka (39-4-3, 24 KO’s) is the top fighter at super bantamweight as he heads into his fight with him on Saturday night at the Home Depot Center, in Carson, California.

Donaire sees Nishioka as #1 and thinks he’s going to get credit for beating him from the casual boxing fans who tune into HBO on Saturday night. Donaire fails to see that Nishioka is no longer a world champion. He gave up his WBC title and is just the Ring magazine champion, which is one of those subjective things where they’re voted by a small handful of guys.




However, hardcore boxing fans don’t seem to be agreeing with Donaire about Nishioka being #1 at this point, with many boxing fans seeing him as a fading fighter who is still at the top because he hasn’t faced anyone really good for a long, long time. He’s still winning, but he has faced a really good fighter ages.

Donaire said to Jenna Jay at Doghouseboxing.com “Regardless that people [casual boxing fans] don’t know who he is, people will know he was #1, or that he was #1 in that division, and that I am here to take that spot away from him, regardless if he’s not known.”

I don’t see it that way. If a fighter isn’t know, casual boxing fans don’t care. That’s the reality of it. Also, the HBO talking heads will likely point out that there are younger fighters – Abner Mares and Guillermo Rigondeaux – that have moved past Nishioka and are now world champions. If Nishioka were to fight either of them I’d see an easy victory for both of those guys over Nishioka, even if he were still in his prime and not the 36-year-old fighter he is now.

Donaire isn’t doing himself any favors by trying to pump his opponents like Nishioka and Jeffrey Mathebula. Boxing fans in the United States weren’t interested in seeing Donaire fight those guys. They want to see him fight Rigondeaux and Mares, but for some reason Donaire isn’t doing that. He said recently to fighthub.tv that Rigondeaux had priced himself out of a fight with him. It seems to be that if they’re asking for a little bit more money Donaire should make sure they get that money so that he can make those fights happen.

If it’s what the boxing public wants to see, he’ll come out ahead by becoming a more popular fighter if he can beat those guys. He might make a little bit less money than he normally does, but he’ll end up making more after he beats them. Of course, if Donaire doesn’t think he can beat them, then yeah I can understand how it might not be a good thing for him to fight those guys.

I don’t see what Donaire gets out of the Nishioka fight. If he and Ring Magazine are the only ones that see Nishioka as #1 fighter, then what good is it to fight him? The value isn’t there if the boxing public doesn’t see it like he does.

[litolapid]

C/P

MANHATTAN BEACH, Calif. -- Nonito Donaire was getting ready to make his one and only bantamweight title defense last October when, a few weeks before what turned out to be a lopsided decision win against Omar Narvaez, he enjoyed a night out during his Las Vegas training camp.

Donaire went to a boxing card at the MGM Grand to watch Toshiaki Nishioka, Japan's No. 1 fighter and one of the top fighters in the world, defend his junior featherweight title in a hard-fought decision win against former champion Rafael Marquez.

Tale of the Tape
Donaire
Nishioka

Age
29
36
W-L
29-1
39-4-3

Height
5'5½"
5'6½"

Reach
68"
68½"
Stance
Orthodox
Southpaw

Teiken Promotions' Akihiko Honda brought Nishioka over from Japan and collaborated on the Marquez fight with Top Rank's Bob Arum for several reasons, and one was to lay the groundwork for an eventual fight between Donaire and Nishioka.

The fighters encouraged the plan. Before Nishioka and Marquez fought, Donaire even wished Nishioka luck and they made small talk.

"We were having somewhat of a fantasy talk about fighting each other," Donaire said Thursday.

Nishioka wanted to fight Donaire so badly that he gave up his piece of the 122-pound world title after the Marquez fight, because he had no interest in making a mandatory defense -- or any defense, for that matter. He only had eyes for "The Filipino Flash," and Nishioka was willing to wait for him.

Donaire, meanwhile, clobbered Narvaez and then made the move to 122 pounds, where he won a vacant title in February by dropping and outpointing former titlist Wilfredo Vazquez Jr. Then Donaire also dropped and outpointed titleholder Jeffrey Mathebula on July 7 to unify two of the titles.

Donaire and Toshiaki Nishioka have anticipated fighting each other for some time now.

Top Rank tried to make a fight between Donaire and Mexican star Jorge Arce -- with Nishioka on the drawing board after that -- but Arce priced himself out of the fight. That set the stage for the fight Donaire and Nishioka both wanted: a high-stakes match against each other.

Nishioka (39-4-3, 24 KOs), 36, who is riding a 16-fight winning streak since losing a decision in a 2004 bantamweight title fight, has made the long trek from Japan back to the United States to challenge Donaire for his belts on Saturday night (HBO, 10 ET/PT) at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif., the same outdoor arena where Donaire pasted Mathebula.

"He either was going to retire or fight me, so that's why I know we can't take anything away from him," Donaire said. "He's a veteran. He knows how to fight. He knows how to win. When he has his radar targeted on someone, he means business. So for me, I gotta be on my A-game.

"I'm honored [he called me out]. He's a very respectful kind of guy. He's a great fighter. We have a mutual respect for each other, for our ability, and we both kind of felt we are the best in this division. So we wanted to prove which one was better. We both respect each other, but we will try to do everything we can to win in the fight

Has Nonito Donaire been treading water, or have fight fans simply been spoiled by his pound-for-pound prowess? Blog


In the much-anticipated co-feature, former lightweight titlist Brandon Rios (30-0-1, 21 KOs) and Mike Alvarado (33-0, 23 KOs) hook up in a 10-round junior welterweight bout that many expect to be an all-action brawl.

Donaire's interest in fighting Nishioka stretches back to mid-2009, when Donaire saw Nishioka go on the road to Mexico and post one of his most impressive victories when he starched the formidable Jhonny Gonzalez in the third round.

"This is a fight that Nonito has wanted for a very long time," manager Cameron Dunkin said. "These are the kinds of fights that you get excited about because this is really a historic fight."

Donaire was fighting as a junior bantamweight at the time Nishioka knocked out Gonzalez but knew he would soon become a junior featherweight, where Nishioka was one of the division's elite.

"When he knocked out Jhonny Gonzalez, I was like, 'That guy is really good,'" Donaire said. "Jhonny Gonzalez is tough guy, a good fighter. I knew Jhonny Gonzalez has a lot of power. I knew [Fernando] Montiel had problems with him. Montiel was my guy to focus on [when he went to bantamweight], but then it was Nishioka at 122."


Chris Cozzone/Fightwireimages.comIt wasn't long after Nonito Donaire's unforgettable knockout of Fernando Montiel that the "Filipino Flash" turned his attention to Toshiaki Nishioka.


Donaire (29-1, 18 KOs), 29, who splits his time between San Leandro, Calif., and Las Vegas, moved up to bantamweight at the end of 2010 and won his debut in the division, and then challenged Montiel for his two belts in February 2011. The result was an unforgettable second-round knockout -- the consensus knockout of the year. After one defense against Narvaez, Donaire was on the move again, with Nishioka on his mind.

"He was still on top after all these years," Donaire said of Nishioka. "I believe he has the credibility to be No. 1 [in the division], and that's the guy I wanted to fight to take that spot. He was my aim from the beginning. When I went to 118, Montiel was the guy I aimed to fight. In this division, [Nishioka] was the guy I aimed to fight."

As interested as Donaire was in facing Nishioka, it was a two-way street, hence his vacating the title with only Donaire on his mind.

"I was waiting for Donaire. I didn't have any interest in any other fight," Nishioka said through translator Nobu Ikushima. "I've been wanting to fight Donaire since my last fight. I've been training since January for this fight. Just timing-wise, trying to get the fight together with Nonito has been challenging, and it took this long. We are now in October, so it took 10 months to get this fight together."

Nishioka is being covered by a throng of Japanese media who have made the trip to Southern California for the fight . As soon as he began training in January, he announced that he wanted to fight Donaire. The reason, he said, was simple.

"There were a lot of good fighters out there, but no matter who I fought, Donaire always came up," said Nishioka, a speedy southpaw with an excellent straight left hand. "He had the highest recognition, so it's faster if I just go directly to the top.

"I want to become not just a world champion [known] in Japan but a world champion internationally. I want to show that Toshiaki Nishioka is a world champion worldwide. So I was waiting for Donaire."

Traveling overseas to fight wasn't an issue for Nishioka. In addition to the road fights against Marquez and Gonzalez, Nishioka has fought twice in Las Vegas and once in France.

Nishioka isn't well-known in the U.S., but he's a skilled pressure fighter with a strong résumé and a winning streak that dates back to 2004.

"I'm very comfortable fighting overseas," Nishioka said.

Besides the significant overseas title defenses against Marquez and Gonzalez, Nishioka's résumé also includes wins against Genaro Garcia and Rendall Munroe among his seven defenses.

"This Nishioka is a helluva fighter," Arum said. "He's a terrific fighter. On this level, you just want to win. If Donaire can knock him out, that's great. But he should be satisfied with a win. I saw Nishioka with Marquez. Nishioka is a helluva skilled, gutty fighter. Donaire is going to have to fight his ass off because Nishioka is no walk in the park. He sticks on you like glue."

Donaire agreed with Arum's assessment.

"We don't want to look past Nishioka," Donaire said. "Nishioka is an incredible challenge for us. He's a wall that we need to break down and climb over.

"This guy has proven himself for years. He's knocked world champions out. What else can I say about the guy? He's the guy I want to fight. He's the guy I feel will give me that challenge."

[rudee]

Gonna be a knockdown drag out affair.. both gents have plenty of gonads! I can't see it going past the 5th round.
Japanese are very gutsy fighters.. going back to Sho Saijo and Fighting Harada!
Course Filipinos and Japanese dislike each other due to the Japanese occupation of the Philipines...
Kinda like the Brits don't like Americans! ha ha ha!

[jamesbond]

The same bloke that hates Pacquiao hates Donaire! Man is a first class arse!

Nishioka is ranked #2 by IBO; #1 in Japan; #1 in UK. He is ranked #2 behind Rigondeaux of Cuba by Pro Boxing. He has not lost a fight in 8 years. He KO'ed more than 8 of his last several opponents including Jhonny Gonzales and gave Rafael Marquez a boxing lesson last Oct 2011!!!

This guy has no boxing credibility whatsoever! And he gets exposure here....pity!!!

[Fibroso]

Nonito Donaire gives up one belt
Updated: October 13, 2012, 4:40 PM ET
By Dan Rafael | ESPN.com




MANHATTAN BEACH, Calif. -- Nonito Donaire relinquished one of his two junior featherweight world titles Saturday morning, hours before he was to defend both against former titlist Toshiaki Nishioka at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif., in the HBO "Boxing After Dark" main event.
Donaire made it official by declining to participate in the IBF's mandated weight check Saturday morning because he decided he would not defend that version of the 122-pound title, manager Cameron Dunkin told ESPN.com.
Dunkin said he recommended to Donaire that he vacate the title and save the nearly $40,000 in sanctioning fees because soon after the fight was finished the IBF would send out a notification that his mandatory defense was due against the winner of the Oct. 27 eliminator between former titlist Takalani Ndlovu of South Africa and Alejandro Lopez of Mexico.





Dunkin pointed out that Donaire's defense would be due before the end of the year -- and he might not fight again before the end of the year, win or lose Saturday night -- and that even if he did fight again in 2012, HBO would have no interest in buying a Donaire fight against Ndlovu or Lopez.
"So my recommendation was save the money instead of paying it and being stripped later when he wound up not fighting the (Ndlovu-Lopez) winner," Dunkin said.
Donaire's WBO version of the title is still at stake. The IBF belt will not be at stake for Nishioka, who also did not participate in the weight check. In Japan, the IBF is not recognized, so he and his team had no interest in pursuing it in the first place.
"We respect the IBF's rules and, by the same token, we respect Donaire's decision to not defend the title and give the opportunity to fight for the title to somebody else," Top Rank vice president Carl Moretti said. "But the fact is, Donaire versus whoever that winds up being probably is an unsellable fight."

[rudee]

Nonito just too good for any fighter in this class weight. The Japanese fighter was beat in the dressing room before
he came into the ring...
Nonito needs to fight bigger guys that can fight back. His fights at this weight are lackluster
cause the other guys are afraid to get knocked out.
Great puncher... no doubt about that.

[El Chido®]

Nonito & Jorge Arce would be a great matchup, perhaps a Farewell for Arce but IMo Nonito hasn't faced a fighter with Major Huevos, and Only a Mexican qualifies for that, so let's make it happen!!

[tacochuck]

Rigondeaux vs Donair would make a good fight

[rudee]

I agree tacochuck... brother chido is right... Nonito gotta fight a Rios type of fighter..
One that takes a shot and keeps on coming... the guys Nonito is fighting have already
soiled thier pants before they get in the ring..
Besides, the big money is in the higher weights.
I dont really care for the Arce fight.... Arce an old dude. Not much left.
Japanese dud was just waiting to get knocked out! Expression on his face was
"what took you so long?"

[jamesbond]

Pacquiao - Arum's Cash Cow #1; Nonito Donaire - Arum's Cash Cow #1.2; Brandon Rios = Arum's Cash Cow #1.5

No way any two of these three meeting in the ring anytime soon!

[Fibroso]

Pacquiao - Arum's Cash Cow #1; Nonito Donaire - Arum's Cash Cow #1.2; Brandon Rios = Arum's Cash Cow #1.5

No way any two of these three meeting in the ring anytime soon!

I wont be so surr bout that, read a bit.......... http://phoenix.satfix.net/showthread.php?120521-Is-Manny-Pacquiao-Looking-to-Fight-the-Winner-of-Brandon-Rios-Mike-Alvarado-in-2013&p=863574#post863574

[jamesbond]

I wont be so surr bout that, read a bit.......... http://phoenix.satfix.net/showthread.php?120521-Is-Manny-Pacquiao-Looking-to-Fight-the-Winner-of-Brandon-Rios-Mike-Alvarado-in-2013&p=863574#post863574

On the spur of a moment, Arum is bound to say what he believes people want to hear. However, as a businessman, he is very astute. Even if he thinks Manny is on the way out and may be fighting his ultimate bout, he is not about to risk Cash Cow #1.5. Rios and Donaire have a long way to go to continue to pad Arum's bank vault. He will make sure they stay undefeated for a few more years.

Whether we admit it or not, he wants Manny and Mayweather; not Manny and Brandon.

[Fibroso]

On the spur of a moment, Arum is bound to say what he believes people want to hear. However, as a businessman, he is very astute. Even if he thinks Manny is on the way out and may be fighting his ultimate bout, he is not about to risk Cash Cow #1.5. Rios and Donaire have a long way to go to continue to pad Arum's bank vault. He will make sure they stay undefeated for a few more years.

Whether we admit it or not, he wants Manny and Mayweather; not Manny and Brandon.
The PBF event wont happen unless he decides to invade the 154 weight class, Floyd will do what Cotto just did, not abide by Arum's rules. Pac has no tittle therefore he has to go up, not expect the other guy to go down. The closest thing to PBF that Pac could fight is Adrien Broner and he may get beat by the young fighter.

[rudee]

I still think Manny is tops in his division....
And as i have posted before,,, Floyd is just too damn big for him.
As i said,, Floyd would come into the ring 13 pounds or so bigger than Manny.
As he did with Marquez.
Age has slowed both of em down. Kinda taken the luster off.
Doubt this will ever happen.
We might be up to Manny vs Marquez 7 pretty soon...

[jriver309]

I still think Manny is tops in his division....
And as i have posted before,,, Floyd is just too damn big for him.
As i said,, Floyd would come into the ring 13 pounds or so bigger than Manny.
As he did with Marquez.
Age has slowed both of em down. Kinda taken the luster off.
Doubt this will ever happen.
We might be up to Manny vs Marquez 7 pretty soon...

Honestly Manny and Mayweather are tops till they fight each other or get knocked out then they have to get it on. I think if the contract was signed both fighters would give their all cause at the end of the day both have huge egos. For Floyd there are three mega fights, Manny, Sergio or Canelo but Arum won't let Manny touch Sergio or Canelo mainly cause of their fighting styles so Arum will have him fighting rematches. Either way 2013 gonna have some big fights I hope.

[litolapid]

I still think Manny is tops in his division....
And as i have posted before,,, Floyd is just too damn big for him.
As i said,, Floyd would come into the ring 13 pounds or so bigger than Manny.
As he did with Marquez.
Age has slowed both of em down. Kinda taken the luster off.
Doubt this will ever happen.
We might be up to Manny vs Marquez 7 pretty soon...

I agree my freind.. with there age getting older.... they getting slower just like you Mike T and Evander Holyfield two slowpoke..lol