Nonito Donaire Jr. once again secured his place in the boxing record books as he won a unanimous decision over Jefferey Mathebula and captured the IBF super bantamweight title. As it stands, The Filipino Flash is now the unified Super Bantamweight champion, holding both the WBO and IBF titles.
Nonito’s win against the much taller Mathebula shows he has already grown accustomed to the 122 lbs division, and he has already indicated that he’ll be moving up in weight again. However, the question now stands as to what Donaire will do next to improve his career standings. There are really two plausible options for Donaire at this point in time.
The first of which is to stay in the Super Bantamweight division to defend his titles. This seems like a very logical next step for Donaire. The two prime candidates that come to mind that could be fitting for Nonito are Toshiaki Nishioka, in a fight where he could reach his stated goal of further unifying his titles, and Jorce Arce.
Nishioka has not lost a match since 2004 and could potentially be a tough opponent for Nonito. Mexico’s Jorce Arce, coming off with a no-contest bout against Jesus Rojas, is still considered an extremely dangerous fighter who has undergone a career resurgence. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that Arce is promoted by Top Rank, and therefore is an easy fight to make, and a strong in-house candidate.
The second option Donaire may choose to undertake would be to move up in weight class to take on harder opponents in the Featherweight or Super Featherweight divisions. If Donaire chooses this option, there is great potential that his career my progress much quicker.
Some opponents that Nonito may come up against in these heavier divisions could be Yuriokis Gamboa and Chris John. Both these fighters are at the pinnacle of their careers and stand undefeated. Winning against one, or both, of these fighters would catapult Donaire to an entirely new level amongst today’s crop of fighters, and even the all-timers as well. Of course, neither fight would be an easy task for him, and there are many other challenges out there for him, even at 122 lbs, including Abner Mares and Guillermo Rigondeaux.
The most probable action Nonito Donaire Jr. will take next will be to defend his Super Batamweight titles at least once, and look to unify to add a title to his collection. However, moving up into the Featherweight divisions will see Nonito fighting against much tougher, and therefore more intriguing, opponents. And this may ultimately create greater opportunities for The Filipino Flash, as he looks to potentially win titles in a fifth or even sixth weight division, catching up to his hero and fellow Filipino icon, Manny Pacquiao.
