Wednesday, December 05, 2007 Donaire: Line them up and I’ll fight them
AFTER destroying the Mexican challenger Luis Maldonado with an eighth round TKO, the International Boxing Federation (IBF) and International Boxing Organization (IBO) flyweight champion Nonito “The Filipino Flash” Donaire seeks to unify the flyweight division.
Donaire, who trained in Cebu for his first title defense, wants to challenge either World Boxing Council (WBC) titleholder Daisuke Naito (32-2-2, 20 KO’s), World Boxing Organization (WBO) champion Omar Narvaez (25-0-2, 16 KO’s) or World Boxing Association (WBA) flyweight champion Takefumi Sakata (31-4-2, 15 KO’s) for the unification of the belts.
Aside from the three, Donaire (19-1, 12 KOs) is still open for a rematch with former champion Vic Darchinyan (29-1-0, 23 KO’s) who he knocked out in the fifth round in their encounter last July saying he wants to fight the best fighters of the flyweight division and Darchinyan is one of them. The former champion is slated to fight Cebuano Z Gorres in an IBF eliminator bout in Cebu this February.
“I’d love to fight Darchinyan again,” Donaire told espn.com. “That’s what boxing is about. I want to fight the best fighters. There were people who said I was a one-punch wonder after Darchinyan, but I came in there and did my thing. I guess my validation was today. I’m here to stay.”
If any of the champions doesn’t want to get involved with the hard hitting champ and will not go for the unification of their titles Donaire will most likely move up to super flyweight or willingly challenge the former bantamweight champion Jorge Arce (48-4-1, 37 KO’s) who was originally scheduled to fight him in December.
Premier fighters
The 25-year-old Filipino fighter is ready to fight premier caliber fighters like Fernando Montiel (35-2-1, 26 KO’s) and Christian Mijares (33-3-2, 14 KO’s) who fought to a draw with Maldonado.
“I want to fight all the best fighters,” Donaire said. “Like my promoter [Gary Shaw] said, I’m ready to fight anybody from 112 pounds to 118. I’ll take them all down,” Donaire said. (EKA)
