By Dan Rafael, ESPN.com
The biggest boxing action often comes in the smallest packages, which is what fight fans are hoping for when unified bantamweight titleholder Fernando Montiel defends his belts against Nonito Donaire on Feb. 19 at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.
The 118-pound world title fight, which kicks off HBO's season of "Boxing After Dark" and pits fighters on the pound-for-pound list, was formally announced Monday.
"Eighteen years ago I promoted a fight with two 108-pound world champions which was one of the greatest events I ever promoted -- Michael Carbajal vs. Humberto Gonzalez at the Las Vegas Hilton," Top Rank promoter Bob Arum said. "It proved to everyone that dynamite can come in all size of packages. Montiel vs. Donaire will feature a matchup between two hard-punching bantamweights that is every bit as explosive as Carbajal-Gonzalez. It's a can't- miss fight and the fans will be assured of seeing a dynamite event."
Montiel, installed as a 2-to-1 underdog by the casino, will be making his fourth title defense and is coming off a second-round knockout of Jovanny Soto in a December non-title bout designed to be his final tune-up before facing Donaire.
Montiel (43-2-2, 33 KOs), who has not lost since 2006, is one of four Mexican fighters to win world titles in three weight divisions along with Julio Cesar Chavez Sr., Erik Morales and Marco Antonio Barrera.
He has also won titles at junior bantamweight and flyweight and said he is not concerned about being the underdog against Donaire. In April, Montiel was also the underdog when he went to Japan for a unification bout with Hozumi Hasegawa. Although Montiel was trailing on all three scorecards after three rounds, he stopped Hasegawa in the fourth round to unify two of the major belts.
"This is the kind of fight that motivates me," said Montiel, 31, of Mexico. "I am not worried about Nonito being the favorite. You should run to the sports book and bet me. It is a very important fight for me and a great opportunity to prove that I am one of the best fighters in the world. I expect a tough fight, but I also expect to win."
Said Fernando Beltran, Montiel's co-promoter, "We don't worry about odds. We were 3-to-1 underdogs in Japan when Fernando won a world title."
The 28-year-old Donaire (25-1, 17 KOs), a native of the Philippines who grew up in California, is a former flyweight titlist and interim junior bantamweight titlist. He fought as a bantamweight earlier in his career, but returned to the division on Dec. 4 in his final tune-up before the fight with Montiel and scored a dominant fourth-round knockout of former titlist Wladimir Sidorenko, who many considered to be a formidable opponent.
"Fernando Montiel is the best fighter I have ever faced and certainly the toughest challenge of my professional career," said Donaire, who has scored knockouts in eight of his last nine fights. "It's going to be a battle of strength and will. I'm leaving nothing to chance in training and when the final bell rings on Feb. 19, the Philippines will have another mark in the victory column against Mexico.
"I'm taking on a great champion and I'm going to prove where I stand in boxing. It will not go 12 rounds. I have power. He has power. I want to win by knockout. He wants to win by knockout."
HBO's telecast will open with a scheduled 12-round rematch between Philadelphia welterweight Mike Jones (23-0, 18 KOs) and Mexico's Jesus Soto-Karass (24-5-3, 16 KOs), who fought an action-packed fight Nov. 13 on the Manny Pacquiao-Antonio Margarito undercard at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
Jones won a majority decision -- 97-93, 95-94 and 94-94 on the scorecards -- in a highly competitive fight. Jones nearly knocked Soto-Karass out in the second round, but he survived and battled back to nearly pull the upset.
Source: sports.espn.go.com
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