Nonito Donaire Jr.: On Montiel's accident, career decisions, and his upcoming bout
Nonito 'The Filipino Flash' Donaire Jr. is a fighter with tremendous skill and ring presence. Unfortunately, he often finds himself fighting mediocre opponents. He's too good of a fighter and he knows he's ready for the big fish, which is why he has been itching
to perform in high profile fights against top quality fighters. One of these such fighters is Fernando Montiel.
Montiel's accident worries Donaire
The Filipino Flash was happy that he will finally get to fight Montiel. News about their match broke out but less than a week later, Montiel had an untimely motorcycle accident and suffered a leg injury. It will indeed be a very huge disappointment for Donaire
if the Mexican champion and his camp decide to put off their highly anticipated showdown next year.
Donaire's desire to fight the bantamweight kingpin is so strong that his career decisions are purely based on getting that fight done.
"I had doubts. I heard various reports and figured something would postpone the Montiel fight," Donaire said. "We wanted to make sure, that's why we signed a two-fight contract with Top Rank to ensure us that we are going to fight Montiel. I'm happy signing
that contract to make sure my fight with Montiel gets made."
On the Showtime's tournament and Agbeko's comments
Before signing that contract, the Filipino was considered to take part in Showtime's bantamweight tournament. Vic Darchinyan, Joseph Agbeko, Abner Mares, and Yonnhy Perez are in the mix. Donaire thought of joining but he couldn't ignore the possibility of fighting
Montiel.
"Without the Montiel fight, I would have totally gone in there. But I think my manager and promoter made a good decision by setting me up with Montiel," Donaire said. "I feel that I am getting bigger and bigger but whoever wins in the tournament, I am willing
to step up and fight that guy."
Agbeko criticized this move. He labeled the two fighters as cowards for not joining the tournament. This was Donaire's response to Agbeko's comment:
"People like that are ignorant; they don't know how it goes with negotiations. It's not always about the fighter's decision. It's just funny to me how people react; it just makes me laugh either way. He can call me a coward or whatever, but fact is I'm going
after the biggest bantamweight — the biggest fish in the pond."
First things first
Before the showdown with Montiel, Donaire has to prepare for his immediate bout against the Ukranian, Wladimir Sidorenko. This is considered to be more of a tune-up than a challenge for Donaire. But the Filipino is not taking any chances as he thoroughly studies
Sidorenko's style.
"He's a tough fighter. He's a good fighter," Donaire said. "He has very good defense. He's a shell that I need to crack and I'm just working on how I can break that shell. I'm going to go in there and he's going to be prepared for me."
Sidorenko's record is 22-2-2 and he only has seven wins by knockout. Based on paper, he does not have the power to give Donaire the shivers but the Filipino Flash respects the Ukranian's ability to throw a great volume of punches.
"[Sidorenko] is a volume puncher," Donaire said. "And when you get caught with one or two or three of them, you are definitely going to feel it in the long run. That's what makes him dangerous."
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