Make Nishioka-Donaire - Shimoda-Montiel :d:o:u:b:l:e:::t:r:o:u:b:l:e:!

Nonito Donaire wants to follow Pacquiao's footsteps winning titles in as many divisions as possible and has the size, skills and power - everything - to do so. Fernando Montiel, hope he's okay, wants to be the 1st Mexican to win a world title in 4 divisions. Toshiaki Nishioka wants to prove him being the no1 SBW is no fluke. And Akifumi Shimoda wants to prove that his win over technician Li Lee wasn't a fluke.

One thing in common of the Mexicans, Japanese and Filipinos: they won't run away from a challenge, so if HBO is ready to put a relatively large fee on the table and Arum won't lowball the Japanese, a Nishioka-Donaire, Shimoda-Montiel would be like the best card of the year, excitement is :g:u:aa.n:t:e:e:d:! :thumbsup

 

Very different styles though, with Montiel the question always was who gets to the other first - Donaire did. Nishioka on the other hand is a fast, slick southpaw boxer with equally impressive footwork and a long reach, so him and Donaire would rather be a chess match, sweet science but with a lot of power. Montiel was always going to take chances as he was short on reach, speed, technical skills and footwork, so taking the fight to Donaire and try to time the counterpuncher with full power was a logical choice, but it didn't pay off this time. Nishioka however boxes on the move behind his long arms and doesn't take the kind of chances, and for me it seemed Donaire was settling in boxing mode too, so when the opportunity came, placed the perfect shot. I'd expect Nishioka-Donaire at least going past half mark and quite possibly full 12.