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

Garcia's a good trainer, Donaire tends to ignore his corner advice though and do his own thing, which he does make work most of the time to be fair to the guy.

It was really evident in the Montiel fight. Montiel's obviously one of the best we've seen in recent years at setting traps, and you could see him trying to do as such, carrying his left very low trying to entice Donaire into throwing a right hand that he could counter. In the corner after the first Garcia tells him to be minimalist in his use of the right hand and stick to mostly left hand-orientated work until KO-Chul tried to switch it up again. Does Donaire implement this advice? Nope. Comes out knowing he can afford to throw and land his right before getting out before Fernando even begins to exploit it and then did something that shocked me for one, trapped the expert trapsmith. He carried his left hand low and forced Montiel to ditch his patient attempts at countering for an aggressive machination based around the right hand, which played into Donaire's hands as he comes over with that phenomenal KOTY left hook that literally dents Montiel's face.

It worked to a lesser extent against Narvaez, but probably not as well as if he had've heeded Garcia's advice. People underestimated Narvaez, and forget that he was right in the fight at around the halfway mark. As you correctly alluded to Sports, Garcia was telling him to step around the side and go to the body, because, as great a defensive wizard Narvaez is, Donaire was quick enough to be able to step to the side and find the ribs before Omar could lower his guard/step out of range in time, and to transition between head and body mid-combination. Instead he completely neglected the body, but maintained a greater range that essentially shut Narvaez's offense down completely and didn't allow him to get anything off. He might not have landed much, but he restricted Omar to landing NOTHING, and hence pitched a shut-out over the second half. Technically he couldn't have been much more successfull, he did win every round after switching it up after all, but you can't help but think he could've worn down and perhaps even stopped Narvaez down the stretch had he obeyed his trainer's commands.

Which was a contrast to the WV2 fight, which was in my opinion reminiscent of Martinez-Barker in the way it transpired. Donaire's old problems began to surface there, he too often looked for single immaculate counter punches and was as usual neglecting his jab, as opposed to working openings and looking for combinations where he went high and low. He's too much of a perfectionist as I've seen Mand say before.

Essentially TFFP's got it though, he steps up his game when he's faced with a 'big' name. His last two opponents are far better than they're being given credit for imo, but they're still not the type of guys that Donaire tends to get motivated for a la Montiel(ignore Lirva) and Darchinyan. He looked meh against Mthalane and Maldonado too, leading to the same questions being asked. It's purely a mentality thing in my opinion, certainly not due to lack of ability.

 

Apologies for the lengthy post, the majority is copy and pasted from other threads where I got carried away.:conf

 

:good

Agree on all counts

 

I'm not sure, and correct me if I'm wrong, Nonito looking short on ideas when faced with a negative opponent (Narvaez) is even that bad a thing. Nonito can press and be the aggressor, getting rounds in the bag against these types and walking his way to a points win, if an opponent wants to stand with the man and trade or even try and be the aggressor then that just plays into Nonito's hands.

He really is one of those fighters which you struggle to find a way to beat, I do think that in against bigger guys who will be able to use their size advantage, who can fight off the back foot and use a solid jab to dissuade Nonito coming forward will be the way to get to him. However, at this moment in time I don't know who the fighter I'm describing is.

 

Yeah, that's the problem Bryn. There really is nobody to fit that description. Perhaps the Acosta that isn't a wreck could have been the one, but he's done and I'm stretching to pick a lightweight.

 

I agree, but someone touched on the the Garcia thing earlier.

Garcia is a great trainer no question and Nonito is a top talent that has won everything hands down even at the higher weight. But maybe Garcia's gym not Garcia has something to do with it. Look at some of the big dogs that have trained in that gym Margarito, Rios, Vargas, Ortiz a few from a long list. Most of those guys are Mexican or Mexican American with come forwad aggressive super macho mexican styles. Maybe Nontio is too slick for the gym stylewise and is getting stagnent in the gym? I know from my experience that sometimes you can outgrow a gym or stylewise and mentally not be suited to the culture of a gym.

Maybe that in part combined with the all the other comments is causing Nonotio to come into the ring stale? Just a thought.

 

Samart :bowdown

 

Nice one for recognising him Flea! :good

 

Yeah, he's like one o my faves and, at his best, would've kicked Donaire's ass.

 

The obvious explanation for this is the weight , he's not carrying the weight too well and he's trying to shift through weight classes one after the other , its not working !!! , he's looked physically slower since moving up , i mean its that simple

What i would like to see him do is drop to Bantam for the next 12 months , fight 3 times there and see how his body reacts , if he's naturally getting bigger (which looking at his frame that would be the theory) and then think about moving him up , he's putting too much pressure himself , and Bob Arum is probably excerting that pressure as well , i cant imagine Robert Garcia going along with this much longer , its obvious to everyone invovled , he's not carrying the weight , the Bantamweight division holds a lot of talented , tough , seasoned world or former world champions , it will do Donaire good to mix it up in that weight class , and given the lack of revenue at the weight , TR and GB will continue to make fights there !!

Also , i rate Vazquez Jr a little higher than you , the Arce fight was a setback , an unexpected and disapointing one but i feel he is or one day will be a solid world level fighter , so for me i felt Donaire beat a solid opponent and earned a good solid win

 

I don't think cutting weight is a good idea if he's getting naturally bigger Win :huh

 

Is he getting naturally bigger though ?? , thats my point

I dont really ever remember him actually " out growing " a division ??

 

He weighed in at 135 for Narvaez.

 

Yes but how well did he carry 135 ?? , his physical appearance and his speed / movement and reflexes have all took a hit above BW , Donaire has never been blessed with an impressive physique but unwanted body fat goes to the wrong areas , and you can see Donaire carrying that extra weight " the wrong way " , IMO he's not a Jr Feather , at the most he's a BW , and like you say going down too far is not feesible now , but Bantamweight is

When he's ready to move through the weight classes he undoubtedly will , but right now his bodysize is still small , over time he should grow and naturally outgrow the divisions a bit like Gamboa has right at this moment in time , deciding that 126 to 135 feels more natural

Donaire isnt at that stage , he potentially will be fighting bigger men , whilst hindering his own physicalities because of excess weight

It will be interesting what Garcia and Donaire come up with because right now i have Rigondeaux taking him to the cleaners at Jr Feather , and with a couple more showings like the last 2 , interest may dwindle