MANILA, Philippines — As proven by his devastating performance against Mexican macho man Fernando Montiel over the weekend, Filipino-American Nonito Donaire has earned the right to become a legitimate headliner, Top Rank chief Bob Arum said Monday from Las Vegas.

“He’s become a main even fighter,” Arum answered when asked if Donaire will be inserted as the main supporting fight to the May 7 clash between Manny Pacquiao and Shane Mosley.

Arum said he will meet with Donaire’s manager, Cameron Dunkin, to discuss what’s on the horizon for Donaire, whose second-round knockout of Montiel gave him the World Boxing Council and World Boxing Organization bantamweight titles.

A fight in May or June is being looked at for Donaire by Arum.

“I still don’t know if Nonito will stay at 118 or go up in weight,” said the 79-year-old Hall of Fame promoter, who also promotes pound-for-pound king Pacquiao.

Still, Arum is not the type to rush things and clarified that a fight with either Yuriorkis Gamboa of Cuba or Juan Manuel Lopez of Puerto Rico is indeed mouth-watering but will have to wait until next year.
Gamboa and Lopez, the leading 126-pounders in the world, are also under the Top Rank banner.

Donaire, according to Arum, has what it takes to achieve what Pacquiao has done the last few years, confidently saying that he can win world titles at 122, 126 and even 130.

“Certainly, Donaire has the talent but one (big) fight doesn’t make him a Pacquiao,” said Arum, still awed by the impact of Donaire’s frightening victory over a man who had never been knocked out in his sterling career.