With the exception of Vic Darchinyan, Nonito Donaire’s boxing resume lacked any real quality opponents.
And Fernando Montiel thinks that would play a major factor when the two of them clash on Saturday (Sunday in Manila) in a bout pitting the best bantamweights in the world today.
Montiel will stake his World Boxing Council (WBC) and World Boxing Organization (WBO) title belts in the 12-round match at the Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas.
Donaire became the first fighter credited for putting a blot on Darchinyan’s career, knocking out the brash Armenian in the fifth round of their 2007 title fight to wrest the International Boxing Federation (IBF) flyweight belt.
Montiel, 31, said beating Darchinyan proved to be the only significant bout in the Filipino’s 10-year pro career.
“Donaire is used to being in easy fights," Montiel pointed out in the final press conference for their fight on Thursday in Nevada. “Where guys go down and stay down once they’re hit. Let’s find out what he does when he’s in a hard fight."
And it’s Montiel who’s expected to provide the 28-year-old Donaire that tough fight.
The Mexican champion, who boasts of a 44-2 ring record (34 knockouts), is making the second defense of his unified 118-pound belts, both of which he won one after the other last year with sensational victories over Filipino Ciso Morales and former WBC champion Hozumi Hasegawa of Japan.
The victory over Hasegawa was impressive enough, where Montiel scored a fourth round technical knockout against the Japanese despite being a heavy underdog. The loss ended Hasegawa’s five-year reign as the bantamweight king.
So it doesn’t concern Montiel that the odds are once more stacked up against him, with Donaire being installed as a 2-1 favorite.
“I was the underdog last year, and I came out victorious," said the native of Los Mochis, Mexico.
But Donaire, owner of a 25-1 record (17 KOs), said he’s up to the task against the Mexican champion, who also happens to be a close friend of him.
“I want to knock Montiel out and I know that he wants to knock me out," Donaire said, just a few seats away from where Montiel was sitting.
“This is why it’s going to be a great fight. We both want to tear each other's heads off, but at the same time, we're friends."
