By Mike Coppinger
Top five pound-for-pound fighter Nonito Donaire will be making his second appearance on HBO on October 22 when he takes on Omar Narvaez at Madison Square Garden’s WaMu Theater.
The Filipino Flash is coming off a devastating knockout victory over Fernando Montiel in February. After a lengthy legal battle between Golden Boy and Top Rank for the 28-year-old phenom, Donaire (26-1, 18 KOs) is finally able to return to the ring, though this bout figures to be his last at 118.
“I think he’s going to move to 122 for sure,” said Top Rank Vice President Carl Moretti.
As for Donaire’s next bout following Narvaez, there are many more options at junior featherweight.
“Possibly the winner of Rafael Marquez and [Toshiaki Nishioka],” said Moretti.“The winner of [Jorge] Arce-[Wilfredo] Vazquez if they fight again. Anybody who’s got a title at ’22. There’s better names at ’22.”
Mike Coppinger is a regular boxing freelancer for USA TODAY and Ring Magazine. He’s a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America, the Ring Ratings Advisory Panel and the Yahoo! Sports Boxing Panel. Follow him on Twitter: @MikeCoppinger.