By Luis Sandoval
Nonito Donaire is a champion again as he holds the Super WBA Featherweight title and his goal is to begin unifying and taking on the other champions in the division. The 126 pound class currently houses some great options for Nonito as he wouldn’t have a tough time looking for a meaningful fight.
Bob Arum had expressed that he wanted to do a Featherweight Tournament which Donaire says he is certainly on board with. But while Donaire is willing to take on all comers, there is one fighter he would not get in the ring with.
“[I’ll fight] whoever holds the belts man. Except for of course the Mexican Russian [Evgeny Gradovich] because of the fact that we’re a team. I’m not the one to call out the Mexican Russian because we’re brothers. We work well together and we’re in the same team and in the same house and it would be wrong for me to over step that boundary” Donaire would tell BoxingScene.
Both Donaire and Gradovich are trained by 2012 Trainer of the Year Robert Garcia and given the conflict of interest, that fight would not be desired by Donaire or Garcia himself.
Aside from the exception of Gradovich, Donaire is ready to take on anybody in the division. He names all the top guys and is ready to face any of them with no hesitation.
“Anybody else or whoever really wants to make it happen, I’m down. I know [Nicholas] Walters is down for it. I know [Vasyl] Lomachenko is a really good fight. You have [Jhonny] Gonzalez and [Abner] Mares there as well so hopefully we can get that fight. It’s going to be exciting for everybody so hopefully we can do it. We should do a tournament. That’s how it’s got to be” said the Filipino Flash.
Donaire hopes to get back in the ring soon and wants to recapture the magic he had in 2012 where he stayed extremely active and was recognized as Fighter of the Year by most publications.
“Yeah, we want to roll it that way [again]. We want to make it that way. Not just for one year but for the rest of my career” said Donaire.
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