No way to go but up, says Donaire's promoter

Top Rank chairman Bob Arum wants a short reign at bantamweight for Nonito Donaire Jr. Seeing how the soft-spoken but hard-punching Filipino made short work of durable Mexican Fernando Montiel in a little less than six minutes in their 12-round title fight Saturday at the Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas, the veteran promoter expects Donaire to blow past the rest of the contenders in the 118-pound division. Then there’s no way to go but up to another weight class for the 28-year-old boxer. “Fernando Montiel has beaten everybody in the bantamweight division, and look at how Nonito matched up against him," said Arum moments after Donaire scored a sensational second round technical knockout against the deposed champion from Los Mochis Sinaloa, Mexico. It marked the first time the 31-year-old Montiel was knocked out in his 15-year pro career. “I don’t think any bantamweight stands a chance with him." Declaring those bold words, the 78-year-old Arum made the pitch for Donaire to move up to super-bantamweight (122), or better yet, to featherweight (126). “Maybe we go up to 122," he said initially, then added, “But I think the big, big fights are at 126." Those big fights at featherweight may involve Juan Manuel Lopez, the World Boxing Organization (WBO) champion, and Yuriorkis Gamboa, owner of the International Boxing Federation (IBF) and World Boxing Association (WBA) belts. Both are undefeated, with Lopez parading a fearsome 30-0 record with 27 KOs, while Gamboa, the Olympic flyweight gold medalist in the 2004 Athens Games, is 19-0, including 15 KOs. More importantly, both belong to the Top Rank stable, giving Arum easy access to arrange a potentially explosive title fight. Donaire said he’s going where Arum goes, although he expressed his desire to unify all four major titles at bantamweight. “I feel more comfortable at this weight and I want to be undisputed in this weight class," he said. Unifying all 118-pound title belts meant facing the winner of the Abner Mares-Joseph Agbeko encounter for the IBF version of the 118 pound crown set April 23 at the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles, California. The match is part of the four-man bantamweight tournament put up by Golden Boy Promotions, that also included Yonnhy Perez and one-time Donaire victim Vic Darchinyan. But setting up Donaire for a meeting between the Mares-Agbeko winner may not come trouble-free owing to the unpleasant working relationship between Top Rank and Golden Boy. Anselmo Moreno, the reigning World Boxing Association (WBA) bantamweight titlist, could also be an option, although the 25-year-old Panamanian could prove to be a hard sell as he has yet to fight in the rich U.S. circuit. “If that (unification) doesn’t happen, I want to go up to 122 or 126," said Donaire, adding, “I just want to keep going. My name is up there enough where I can get a big fight now." One immediate agenda of Arum is to hold talks with Donaire’s camp for a new contract with Top Rank. The Filipino’s two-fight promotional contract with the famed boxing promotion concluded following the Montiel bout. - KY, RCJ, GMA News