Nonito Donaire finally got paired with a dancing partner for the bantamweight throne the World Boxing Council wants occupied at the soonest possible time.
From its Mexico City headquarters, the WBC gave the go-signal for Donaire’s camp and that of Alejandro Santiago of Mexico to start talking about a title fight to determine the boxing’s body’s new 118-lb king.
The title was declared vacant when the undisputed champion Nagoya Inoue decided to go up in weight in pursuit of a fourth world title in as many weight classes.
Apart from the WBC, Inoue also used to hold the straps of the other sanctioning bodies such as the World Boxing Association, International Boxing Federation and World Boxing Organization.
Originally, the WBC had handpicked Australian Jason Moloney to box Donaire but the fighter from Down Under opted to exercise another option.
Instead of vying for the WBC crown against a veteran in Donaire, Moloney will go the WBO way and get partnered with a boxer he feels he will have better chances of winning against.
You see, Moloney is also rated highly by the WBO so getting that call to contest the vacant title was a given.
So, now that the WBC has finalized the composition of the title fight cast, does it mean that all Donaire has to do is show up and the WBC belt will be his?
Well, you know, if this fight was taking place three or four years ago, I would bet the rent money that the Filipino-American puncher would win without much difficulty.
But, you see, Donaire is past 40 and is coming off the most devastating defeat of his Hall of Fame career — a second-round knockout loss to Inoue last year.
This is the reason why I am a bit reluctant to make a bold forecast in favor of Donaire even if he is going up against a fighter who is several notches below his caliber.
Making it extremely hard is the fact that Santiago is such a durable and crafty and incredibly off-beat that I won’t be shocked if he ends up scoring an upset over Donaire.
Santiago is the same hombre who battled Jerwin Ancajas to a draw in 2018 at the Oracle Arena in Oakland.
I sat at ringside and endured 12 rounds watching Santiago frustrate the skillful Ancajas.
Still, it is foolish to dismiss Donaire even if he will be turning 40 in November and was brutally stopped by Inoue the last time he was in the ring.
Many times in the past ringsiders began giving Donaire the count but each time he got up and wound up scoring a knockout.
The problem is, all good things come to an end.
Santiago might not have the ammo to duplicate what Inoue did but he has youth on his side, the hunger and the skill set to mess Donaire up.
