Nonito Donaire vs. Jorge Arce
Saturday night in Houston, Texas was supposed to feature two of the best junior featherweights on the planet. The first fight of the night was slated to be rising Cuban star Guillermo Rigondeaux squaring off against Poonsawat Kratingdaenggym, but due to a failed medical exam Kratingdaeggym had to pull out of the fight. So instead big time boxing fans will have to settle for the best junior featherweight in the sport, Nonito Donaire. Donaire will test his skills against all action fighter Jorge Arce.
By now every boxing fan is very familiar with Nonito Donaire. He is ranked seventh in the top 10 p4p rankings and is rising quickly. He has fought a lot of great fighters and usually came out victorious. His only career loss came in his second professional fight to Rosendo Sanchez. He holds a record of 30-1-0 with a solid 19 knockouts. Donaire is a rare blend of talent. He has good footwork, lightning fast hands, and one punch knockout capability. The only knock against Donaire is that he hasn't yet fought the other top fighters in his division. Fight fans would certainly welcome a fight between Donaire and top 10 p4p newcomer Abner Mares, and the past year has heard fans calling for Donaire to take on Rigondeaux. For whatever reason it seems as though Donaire is ducking Rigondeaux. When asked about that fight Donaire continues to diminish Rigondeaux's record since he has only had eleven professional fights. But that is only because Rigondeaux had to defect from Cuba and also has a long and storied amateur career winning gold medals in the 2000, and 2004 Olympics. As talented and fan friendly as Donaire is, questions will continue to linger about him until he takes on Mares or Rigondeaux. However fighting Arce is definitely a step in the right direction.
Arce is a tough Mexican fighter. When a fight fan thinks of a Mexican fighter the first words that come to mind are usually, blood, guts, heart, and action. And Arce usually delivers all five. He is 33 years old and already has 69 fights. He is an old school type fighter. His record is an impressive 60-6-2 with 1 no contest and 46 knockouts. He seems like an elder statesmen in the sport but is actually only three years the senior of Donaire. His last loss came in 2009 and he has been impressive ever since. He has fought and beat top fighters and has much more ring experience than his opponent come Saturday night. It seems Arce looks for the knockout victory every time he steps into the ring. If he were to knockout Donaire that would be a massive accomplishment, albeit a very difficult one to achieve.
The last few times Donaire has been in the ring his opponent seems content to just survive the fight, instead of actually trying to win it. That won't be the case with Arce. When Arce fights he fights for all of Mexico, so you know he will bring everything he has. This fight will pit the skills of Donaire against the toughness of Arce and should make for a very interesting action fight. If Arce can turn this fight into a brawl he has a chance to come away the victor. But the skills and speed of Donaire might prove to be to much for the ageing Mexican to overcome.
PREDICTION: Nonito Donaire wins via unanimous decision. I expect Arce to be badly hurt at some point but to fight his way through. I also expect to see the chin of Donaire tested by the hard throwing Arce.
Comments
Post a Comment