How good was Donaire in his prime

Damn good top 10 fighter of the era

 

I never understood Donaire's rep as a weight bully. Other than Rigo, he weighed about the same or lighter as everyone else post weigh in. Montiel weighed more than him post weigh in but never got the weight bully rap.

 

Donaire was good but not sure if I consider him a great despite his accomplishments. He was being promoted as the next Pacquiao but he simply wasn't. Donaire relied too much on his left hook. Nonito didn't fare well against guys his size as he moved up. He was entertaining though.

 

Liked it when Vic beat up Donaire's little brother , started a war of words between Vic an Donaire .
The fight was on between Vic n Donaire .
Vic telling Donaire he'll face the same faith as his brother .
Made Vic eat his own words up .

 

Good fighter.

But doesn't have the engine of a true elite champion. He gassed and mark up easily. In terms of boxing skills he had some beautiful flashy counters and speed too boot.

Defensively, not elite. Get's hit too easily.Probably why he has had too many close WARS.

 

He was like that kid Icarus who flew too high and close to the sun for his own good.
He was brilliant in the lower weights, demolished himself when he went up.
He had some semblance of redemption as of late.

You can't really take anything away from him though, that's the price of being great really, challenging yourself to achieve greater heights.
That is why when you see the likes of Pacquiao, ODLH, Floyd or heck even Broner jump weight divisions successfully, you should appreciate the specimen in front of you because that kind of talent comes is rare.
(Leonard, Hearns, Duran, RJJ, Whitaker, Morales etc are great examples too, but you probably didn't catch them either)

 

His run up through Nicholas Walters was HOF worthy even including the loss to Rigo (Rigo is quite simply one of the greatest spoilers ever). It took one of the greatest "boxers" ever and the giant boogeyman of a division 5 divisions above his original weight to show kinks in his armor. Nonito was a true specimen

 

In his prime he was a deadly killer, fast hands, good foot movement, ATG left hook, great counter puncher, versatile, punched in angles. His big flaws, even at his best, was that he was a bit of a head hunter, waited a bit too long for the counter left, and didn't seem to punch in combinations enough. Eventually he relied too much on his power and became one dimensional by the time he moved up to Super Bantamweight. Great fighter from Flyweight to Bantamweight who looked near unbeatable until he moved up and eventually ran into Rigondeaux, an Olympic gold medalist who was seen as the "best boxer" at that time.

It still irks me when people call Donaire a weight bully when guys like ODLH, Arturo Gatti, Thomas Hearns, Gerald McClellan, Ricardo Lopez, Hilario Zapata, Raul Perez, Paul Williams, Diego Corrales, and countless others have been bigger than their opponents.

HOF fighter and ATG IMO.

 

Kind of ironic how, despite losing pretty badly to a talent like Rigo, still ended up having a pretty good run after his losing streak and has had a much greater overall career. Whereas Rigo pretty much wasted his whole boxing career away and eventually losing badly himself in much more embarrassing, disgraceful fashion against Loma, which I always found that to be karma.

 

The way he sliced through the best guys from 112-122 in such a short amount of time was nothing short
of phenomenal. He only had 2 good wins in that run though. A prime Darchinyan and prime Montiel. Darch
had so many holes in his game that at first glance it just seemed that he got exposed by a sniper counter
puncher in Donaire, but then darch moves up to 115 and stops highly regarded p4p'er Christian Mijares.
A prime Montiel win for 'The Flash' and the way he did it solidified Donaire as the #1 p4p fighter in the world
at that time. However, the flash was too reliant on counter punching and power, so when he met someone who
brought a schooled strategy the the table (Rigondeaux) he got found out. Therefore, while Donaire is no ATG,
he is a 1st ballot HOF'er and earned his spot for a short time at the peak of the sport. HOWEVER, if Donaire is
somehow able to turn back time and defeat in any way "The Monster' from Japan Inoue, then he is immediately
to be considered an ATG without dispute.

 

No, you do know what you're talking about and an Inoue win is not a lock by any means. There are unanswered questions
about the japanese dynamo that even an old Donaire will answer. Nonito is still a near elite fighter at 36 years old, and a
future 1st ballot HOF'er. An Inoue win instantly makes him an ATG.

 

This, Nonito was very good against smaller fighters he was what you call a weight bullie

 

Don't really get people who call donaire a weight bully.. Its not like he used his size and strength to lean on them and maul them.. He spent half his fights dancing round and landing hard counters... If you can make a weight and you can make it comfortably... Are you a weight bully?

 

As a big fan of both... More I think on it the more I want donaire to pull it off

 

Initially I thought he would be a one hit wonder. 28-0 SIc Vic was supposed to eat this kid and boy, did Nonito give a KO reel of the year, but as others said he had a gr8 run earning my respect as a solid boxer to go along with the ability to end it with one shot. @ Fly & Bantam he was the man to beat for a few years. Worthy to be called one of the 10 best of his era. emphasis (his) era.