Nonito donaire - overrated?

Just want to say that i like Donaire. He's skillful, exciting and has a good chance of having a successful career but is he getting hyped a bit to much (well, as hyped as a smaller weight fighter can get)?

Some people are going on like he is some exceptionally skilled counter punching, power puncher going to dominate the 112-118 divisions.

He could very well do this but lets look at the facts;

Apart from Darchinyan he hasn't fought at a high level. Ok, beating Darchinyan is good, especially in the fashion he did it but styles make fights and Vic was made for Nonito.

Just because he beat a come forward, limited, brawler in Darchinyan does not mean he will be able to beat a solid boxer-puncher in Montiel or a slick, skilled fighter like Mijares. Sometimes when you get a great technician fighting a good but usually over hyped brawler the technician will dominate and some people blow the win out of proportion (Calzaghe-Lacy, Hopkins-Pavlik,). Yes these wins are impressive but in most sports skill will prevail over natural athleticism and it is not indicative of how the technitian may fare against a more polished fighter.

As for Donaires punching power - he obviously hits hard but i think people are over rating his power because of the Darchinyan KO. On paper it looks
impressive - KOing someone who hadn't been KOed before and up until that point had showed a solid chin but although Donaire does have respectable power i think the KO punch was more to do with a perfectly timed shot on an opponent coming onto the punch rather than tremendous natural punch power.

Like i said, I like Donaire and he could very well beat everyone at 112-118 but some people (not all but still a significant proportion) are hyping him up like Cotto and Pavlik were hyped up untill their first pro losses (obviously the Donaire hype is much smaller than the aformentioned fighters due to the lower weights getting less press).

So what do you people think? Is Nonito the future of the smaller weight classes or is he, like i think, a very good but largely unproven talent?

 

Definately solid victories, especially the Vic win. I just think the hype from some people compared to what he has achieved is a bit to much.

I think Montiel has an ok resume. Castillo, Maldonado and Gorres are good wins.

 

Do you think he should be top 20 just because he beat Vic and Maldonado?

 

If he hasn't fought the other top guys at 112 then he hasn't dominated the division even if they are ducking him.

How do you think he would do against the other 112 guys? I think he beats Sakata, Naito, Wonjonkamp and Kameda but i don't know about Narvaez. There are some good names on Narvaez's record but no great ones but i think he is a very skilled boxer-puncher and think he would give Donaire a good fight.

 

If he beats Montiel, Mijares and Arce i would have him in my top 5. Maybe top 3.