More than his stunning win over Vic Darchinyan four years ago, Nonito Donaire considers his coming 12-round title fight with Mexican Fernando Montiel as the one that will define his boxing career.
"I’m taking on a great champion and I’m going to prove where I stand in boxing," vowed the soft-spoken former world flyweight champion during the formal announcement of his Feb. 19 championship bout with Montiel Monday in Las Vegas for the World Boxing Council (WBC) and World Boxing Organization (WBO) bantamweight belts.
Donaire barged into big-time boxing when he dealt the brash and fearsome Vic Darchinyan his first career loss — a stunning fifth round knockout at Bridgeport, USA — to wrest the International Boxing Federation (IBF) flyweight crown.
The 28-year-old Filipino was then a 7-1 underdog to beat Darchinyan in the fight adjudged as the `Knockout and Upset of the Year’.
But in facing Montiel, the tide has been reversed as the Filipino born in Taliban, Bohol is installed a 2-1 favorite owing to his sensational fourth round demolition of former bantamweight titlist Wladimir Sidorenko in Anaheim, California last month.
Donaire (25-1, 17 KOs) has now won eight of his last nine fights by way of knockout.
And he vows to add Montiel, 31, to his growing list of victims.
“It will not go 12 rounds. I have power. He has power. I want to win by knockout. He wants to win by knockout," Donaire noted.
Montiel is not a bit perturbed by the growing reputation of Donaire as one of the best bantamweights — and pound-for-pound fighter for that matter — in the sport today.
“This is the kind of fight that motivates me," said the Mexican champion, who is coming off a second-round knockout of Jovanny Soto also in December in his final tune-up before taking on Donaire.
“I am not worried about Nonito being the favorite. You should run to the sports book and bet on me. It is a very important fight for me and a great opportunity to prove that I am one of the best fighters in the world. I expect a tough fight, but I also expect to win."
Just one of four Mexican fighters to win world titles in three different weight divisions after Julio Cesar Chavez Sr., Erik Morales and Marco Antonio Barrera, Montiel (43-2-2, 33 KOs) was also an underdog when he invaded Japan last April to defend his titles against Hozumi Hasegawa.
Trailing on all three scorecards after three rounds, Montiel proceeded to stop Hasegawa in the fourth to grab the WBC version of the 118-pound title.
“We don't worry about odds. We were a 3-to-1 underdog in Japan when Fernando won a world title," noted Fernando Beltran, who co-promotes Montiel, winner of world titles at junior bantamweight and flyweight.
Top Rank promoter Bob Arum sees the fight going down as one of the best in boxing’s lower weight division.
Arum even boasted that the fight has the potential to follow the path of the action-packed world junior flyweight title bout between Michael Carbajal and the legendary Humberto Gonzales in 1993 at the Las Vegas Hilton, which Carbajal won with a 7th round knockout after being down in the second and fifth rounds.
“Eighteen years ago, I promoted a fight with two 108-pound world champions which was one of the greatest events I ever promoted," said Arum of that memorable championship match in the early '90s.
“It proved to everyone that dynamite can come in all sizes and packages. Montiel vs. Donaire will feature a match-up between two hard-punching bantamweights that is every bit as explosive as Carbajal-Gonzalez. It's a can't-miss fight, and the fans will be assured of seeing a dynamite event." - KY, RCJ, GMANews.TV
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