Sunday, November 02, 2008 Donaire defends belt against deadly African
ELEVEN months after his first title defense, Nonito “The Filipino Flash” Donaire will finally get to dust off the cobwebs of his gloves as he defends his International Boxing Federation and International Boxing Organization flyweight titles.
This morning (Saturday night in the US), Donaire will face Moruti Mthalane in Mandalay Bay in the main supporting bout under the Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. vs Matt Vanda card.
This is just Donaire’s second defense of the titles he won with a fifth-round knockout against Australian Vic Darchinyan in July 7, 2007.
Curiously, Darchinyan, who also fought to a draw against Z Gorres last February, will also face Cristian Mijares in a separate fight also today.
Donaire last fought in Dec. 1 last year when he downed Luis Maldonado in eight rounds.
After that fight, Donaire’s succeeding title defenses were canceled and before finally getting a play date after signing up with Bob Arum, who is also the promoter of Many Pacquiao.
During yesterday’s weigh in, Donaire, who trained briefly in Cebu for his Maldonado fight, easily made 112 pounds while Mthlane was a pound lighter.
“This time, I am not really having a very hard time making weight. I had enough time to do it,” Donaire said in a report posted at philboxing.com. ESL of Superbalita
Donaire holds a 19-1 win loss mark with 12 KOs and is confident he will win this fight.
‘’Everything is going great. I went to the gym and started training early. I’m ready for this fight,” said Donaire.
The Pinoy fighter said no one can beat him in this division if he’s in tip-p shape.
‘’My confidence level is boosted. I know that I can take on anybody now in my weight class. It really helps me to focus, to know that this is the guy that I want to chop down, the hurdles that I have to jump over,” he said.
Mthalane, who earned his shot after beating Hussein Hussein early this year, holds a 22-1 record with 15 KOs. (ESL of Superbalita)
