Nonito Donaire has looked lacklustre in recent fights, why do you think this is?

Nonito Donaire is a top 5 pound for pound fighter. He's an exceptional talent, with the power, speed and reflexes to match the very best in the sport. He has put together a superb body of wins including; Luis Maldonado, Moruti Mthalane, Tyson Marquez, Vladimir Sydorenko and Fernando Montiel. Along the way he has looked every bit a supreme top level fighter.

Recently however, more specifically in his last 2 outings, Donaire has not looked to be at the same level he was touted to be at after the decimation of Montiel. He fought Omar Andres Narvaez last year, a smaller, older fighter who was moving up in weight agaisnt a much bigger foe. The Flash was expected to defeat him with relative ease, despite the skills the experienced veteran possesed. However, Donaire was taken the distance and looked thouroughly unsure of how to penetrate the admittedly negative, but not inpetetrable Narvaez. Donaire seemed a bit clueless as to how to deal with a foe who did not present openings to him. Up until this fight, Donaire had looked nothing short of outstanding, but he appeared flustered at times by an opponent who had enough guile not to give Donaire any opportunities. It was the first time in a while that Donaire had looked at all beatable.

Most recently, Donaire moved up to the 122 division to take on the former world champion Wilfredo Vazquez Jr. WVJ (as I will know call him) is a solid but unspectacular fighter who was upset by an elderly but game Jorge Arce and seen as a straightforward opponent for Donaire to stop and progress through the division. However, in a surprising twist, WVJ gave Donaire arguably the toughest fight of his career, marking him up noticeably by the finish with a ramrod jab and the occasional hard right hand that rarely did not find the target. WVJ isn't a top level fighter by any means IMO, and he didn't fight at all negatively agaisnt Donaire, he was within range at all times. Yet despite hurting him occasionally, Donaire never looked like he would get WVJ out of there. And again, at times he looked genuinely puzzled at how to take out the Puerto Rican. I scored it 116-111 Donaire, but it could be as close as 114-113 IMO

So Donaire, after looking spectacular for a long while, has begun to - dare I say it - stagnate a bit. He's looked less and less impressive, but his quality of opponents has not really improved at all. So why do you think he's not looked as good as he should do? I've got theories of my own but I wanna hear what you guys think :good

 

Sorry for the essay btw :yep. Just thought I'd present my view of his recent fights.

 

Why do you think he's looked so lacklustre though, Flea? Technically I mean. Is it just at the higher weights he's more sluggish so his power, speed and reflexes have dwindled slightly? Is the lack of size advantage making him less imposing?

 

Him and Darchinyan had to be a similar size/weight though, didn't they?

 

I think it's realistic to expect him to knock out Wilfredo Vazquez Jr though, and at least open up Narvaez a little bit.

Donaire just seems to lack initiative, he's not a smart fighter and he doesn't seem to think. He can't make his own openings. When a fighter opens himself up and presents Donaire with the opportunity to counter, he will **** them up, but when they're tight, and they don't give him frequent chances to counter, he seems a bit clueless. He also lacks a good jab IMO, which would help him open up fighters so much more. Instead of jabbing, he just lobs hooks at them which ping off their guard and don't do ****' Maybe he'll knock em out when they're smaller than him, but bigger fighters wont feel the shots so much.

In addition to me saying he lacks initiative, where was the body work against Narvaez? He could have stepped to his side and opened up on the body, but he chose to just pile punches into Narvaez's high guard (which left his body exposed FFS). I think he's looking less impressive because he doesn't know how to open fighters up. Then when he's not having success he just gets frustrated and wild, like against Vazquez in Round 3, he had him on the ropes and just winged in 6/7 shots that all missed. Someone needs to teach the guy not to be so linear and that there's more than one way to win a fight.

 

Okay.

Garcia's a top trainer IMO. Not the best like, but still among them.