Nonito Donaire: Can Anyone Stop His Rise To The Top Of The Pound-For-Pound Ratings? -- Eastside Boxing

By James Slater, Eastside Boxing

Going into last night’s Nonito Donaire-Fernando Montiel clash in Las Vegas, the thinking was the fight could possibly go either way. Donaire was a slight favourite, but he was not expected to utterly destroy the previously unstopped Mexican the way he did. But with one awesome left hook to the chin, that’s exactly what the “Filipino Flash” did.

Now the holder of the WBC and WBO bantamweight titles, the gifted 28-year-old is a three-weight “world” champion and he is rightfully feeling on top of the world after stopping the 31-year-old so swiftly and decisively. Seemingly unbeatable right now (Donaire has only ever lost one pro fight, this being a 5-round decision in what was just his second pro outing way back in March of 2001), the 26-1(18) champion surely belongs near the very top of the Pound-for-Pound ratings..

A case can be made for ranking Donaire as high as three or four, P-4-P, behind only countryman Manny Pacquiao, Floyd Mayweather Junior and maybe Sergio Martinez. But one day soon, the way he’s going, with plans to go as high as 122, maybe even 126, Donaire figures to reach the very top in the mythical list. The youngest of the top-four P-4-P guys, Donaire could outlast Pac-Man, Money and Maravilla.

Pacquiao doesn’t figure to have too many more fights, Mayweather may never fight again, depending on the outcome of his legal troubles, and Martinez is 35-years-old. With so much fight left in him at just 28, and with the seemingly-at-his-peak Filipino having a number of solid opponents to look at facing in the coming months (the winner of the upcoming Joseph Agbeko-Abner Mares rematch at 118, the winner of the Vic Darchinyan-Yonnhy Perez clash, also at 118, and a number of big names at 126-pounds), it’s conceivable indeed that Donaire will one day reach the top of the P-4-P lists.

Is there any fighter, at either 118, 122 or 126, who can stop Donaire’s sensational rise?

Blurringly fast, wickedly powerful and utterly dedicated to his training, Donaire is also humble in the typical Filipino way. Sound familiar? Donaire is no longer simply Manny Pacquiao’s countryman, he is now hot on his heels when it comes to being able to lay claim to being the world’s very best fighter. Ring Magazine’s web site has compared Donaire’s awesome win from last night with Pac-Man’s one-punch icing of Ricky Hatton; it was that impressive. But we must not forget that Martinez, the world middleweight king and a serious rival to Donaire when it comes to the P-4-P charts, scored a sensational 2nd-round KO of his own recently. And the punch that the Argentine used to finish Paul Williams also happened to be the left hand.

There are certainly some great, great fighters operating today, and it will be hard for the experts to decide who should be ranked at three and four, after Pac-Man and Mayweather, in the P-4-P charts. How high does Donaire deserve to be placed right now, and how high can he get in the next year or so?

Source: eastsideboxing.com