People seems to forget how good was Donaire.

[yngwie]

At 122 that year Donaire fought a solid contender in Mathebual, he fought a mediocre guy in Vazquez jr, and then fought two old men.

While at 118, he avoided the best five guys in the division to fight two midgets, in Sydorenko, and Montiel. He then ran from the weight class, without having fought Mares, Perez, Agbeko, or Moreno.

He then finally answers the challenge of 5'3 Guillermo "El Dedor de La Cabaza" Rigondeaux and is given beautiful boxing, and a pumpkin face.

What is a "dedor"?

[yngwie]

2013 he fought twice in the US and in both fights he looked bad in. He looked bad against losing to Rigo and he didn't look good against Vic Darchinyan. It was my opinion then as it is now that Vic was chosen as a come back fight for Nonito to salvage his reputation, but Vic was making Nonito look bad and was winning on all three cards until Nonito hit that home run on Vic.

2014 he won the belt off Vetyeka in a very lousy fashion, suffering an accidental cut from a headbutt then fighting for 4 rounds to ensure that he was within the legal ruling of a technical decision, and snatched the belt due to the cut. He promised Vetyeka a rematch and never followed up on it. After that fight he fought Walters and was knocked out.

2015 and 2016 unless you are a hardcore Nonito fan, Nonito has largely dropped off the map. His last four fights have been in the Pacific and I'm not sure if any major network picked them up. With all that's happened in the last 2 years I guess its easy to forget about Nonito.

I know he hasn't looked good recently, but in his prime was an impressive fighter.

[CaneloMaidana]

What is a "dedor"?

I believe it means redecorater of face

[paulf]

Historically, Americans don't exactly go crazy for fighters below featherweight. Donaire crossed over because his knockouts were must-see TV. No star-building hype, just a guy from the Philippines knocking good fighters the fuck out fight after fight, sound familiar?

Donaire lost his luster because he lost his titles to one of the least interesting fighters of all time, moved up, got the **** beaten out of him by Walters, and then moved back down. He's grabbed a vacant strap, but so what? He's got to at least beat some names in the division (Frampton, Quigg, Wake), and even if he does he is clearly not even the best in his division, let alone pound for pound, until he rematches Rigondeaux or Rigondeaux moves up.

[jreckoning]

Historically, Americans don't exactly go crazy for fighters below featherweight. Donaire crossed over because his knockouts were must-see TV. No star-building hype, just a guy from the Philippines knocking good fighters the fuck out fight after fight, sound familiar?

Donaire lost his luster because he lost his titles to one of the least interesting fighters of all time, moved up, got the **** beaten out of him by Walters, and then moved back down. He's grabbed a vacant strap, but so what? He's got to at least beat some names in the division (Frampton, Quigg, Wake), and even if he does he is clearly not even the best in his division, let alone pound for pound, until he rematches Rigondeaux or Rigondeaux moves up.

I think he got his clout from the Pac craze to be honest. Saw another puncher played upon the Pinoy population here and abroad and did ok considering.

Michael Carbajal was the one little dude that had a lot of people behind him.
Tapia too. Everybody loved that guy, especially celebs.

[JJRod]

IMO Donaire was a casualty of the boxing cold war that took place when he was in his prime. Partly his fault as well as he tried signing with GBP when he was still under contract with Top Rank.

But because of the cold war he was denied fights with guys like Mares and LSC two huge fights at the time which would have elevated his status even more.

[The Akbar One]

What is a "dedor"?

He gives them the pumpkin. Did you see Donaire's grotesquely swollen face back stage after his fight with Rigondeaux? What about Amagasa's?

[bojangles1987]

Donaire has always been disrespected on NSB since I've been here. Not just for his limitations (I won't pretend they don't exist) but also with constant accusations that he is avoiding fighters. For whatever reason people really dislike him. He has had a very good career.

[The Akbar One]

IMO Donaire was a casualty of the boxing cold war that took place when he was in his prime. Partly his fault as well as he tried signing with GBP when he was still under contract with Top Rank.

But because of the cold war he was denied fights with guys like Mares and LSC two huge fights at the time which would have elevated his status even more.

118 was a solid division when he was there. Yet he didn't fight any of the top five guys while he was there. The guys in the bantamweight tourney, plus Moreno were better than the guys he fought while at 118. That isn't a good look. Then he moved up to 122 and was matched in showcase types fights against Arce, and Nishioka. He was already established, he didn't need those. Fight the best available guys. When he finally stepped up he got deflated.

In my opinion he was better at the lighter weights. 112-115. Look at the Donaire that beat Darchinyan the first time. He had foot work, punch variety, athleticism etc. You could tell he was hungry. He would have needed to be the Donaire from that night to have a chance against Rigondeaux. As Donaire moved up in weight, he got lazy. Big difference in how he looked then, as compared to how he looked at 122.

[Prince Madison]

Because he lived off one great performance beating darchinyan (and was darchinyan ever that amazing). Then the big fight he got involved in he got schooled by rigondeaux and has done jack**** since. Said at the time he was overrated and rigo would beat him pretty comfortable, dont know why everyone was so shocked