MANILA, Philippines – Boxing analysts believe the best is yet to come for four-division former world champion Nonito Donaire Jr. who is due to collide with heavy-hitting Armenian Vic Darchinyan this weekend.
According to ESPN’s boxing analyst Kieran Mulvaney, Donaire may have lost a bit of his focus heading to the Guillermo Rigondeaux fight last April, which cost him his WBO super bantamweight crown.
“He's taken his eyes off the prize a little bit I think... he hadn't focus on the nuts and bolts of what made him successful, he had to go in whether he still wanted to do this,’ said Mulvaney in ESPN.com.
The analyst said fans will probably see a more eager, more focused Donaire against Darchinyan after the loss to Rigondeaux.
“I think we'd probably see him rededicated,” said Mulvaney, who described the Filipino Flash as a “very skillful fighter.”
“Assuming he's rededicated, i think we'd see a good couple of years of high quality boxing from Nonito Donaire.”
For his part, ESPN analyst Brian Campbell sees the Darchinyan fight as a get-well bout for Donaire, who suffered a slight dip in his career after his loss to Rigondeaux and a six-month hiatus from the fight game.
“He's coming into a rematch with Darchinyan, the guy he knocked out in their first meeting many years ago in 2007. What he's looking to do here is getting his name back out there,” said Campbell.
Although the bout is a rematch, Campbell sees Donaire wanting to prove himself again.
“For him, he's not taking [Darchinyan] lightly,” said the analyst. “He really thinks that Darchinyan coming here at age 37 is going to be motivated for the biggest fight of his life, last stand if you will to come out and get revenge against Donaire.”
source: www.abs-cbnnews.com
