Is Abner Mares in Nonito Donaire's rear-view mirror, or is Mares starting to leave Donaire in the dust? Will Brandon Rios return to face Mercito Gesta this July? Can Showtime pull off a quadruple-header for the ages? Find out the answer to these questions and more in this week's "From Pillar to Post!"
Surging Mares Pulling Ahead of Sputtering Donaire.
Nonito Donaire is considered by many to be amongst the best active fighters today thanks to his brutal KOs of former champions Vic Darchinyan and Fernando Montiel, but I believe Donaire is losing his luster to rising Mexican banger Abner Mares, who will face off against Eric Morel this Saturday for a Jr. Featherweight belt. Mares' Bantamweight campaign saw him go through the division's top fighters one after the other, ultimately crowning himself as champion in that division, with aspirations to continue outside of his weight class.
Donaire, often regarded as the best fighter in the lower weight classes, has looked stunning in the aforementioned wins, but those wins were spaced years apart from each other and had a bunch of ho-hum names in between them. His past two appearances against Omar Narvaez and a tougher than expect fight with Wilfredo Vazquez Jr. suggests that there may not be as many dimensions to his game as originally thought, and his insistence to fight elder statesmen Cristian Mijares and Jorge Arce instead of legitimate challengers Guillermo Rigondeux and Toshiaki Nishioka suggest that Donaire's competition isn't going to improve anytime soon.
Mares has looked impressive fight after fight, and I expect another impressive performance this weekend against the serviceable, but overmatched Morel to claim a title at 122. Of course the only way to tell who is the better fighter is to have Mares and Donaire in the ring, but with Mares being a Golden Boy fighter and Donaire being with Top Rank, we might as well just leave it to speculation and spare ourselves the disappointment of hoping for it to happen.
Brandon Rios vs. Mercito Gesta for July 14?
Everything that needs to be said about Rios' little miracle last weekend against Richard Abril has been said, so it's time to anticipate what will be next for him in his guided path to Manny Pacquiao in 2013. July 14 has been set aside for another Top Rank pay-per-view that originally was supposed to feature Juan Manuel Marquez and Nonito Donaire in separate bouts on a Mexico vs. Philippines card, but with Donaire apparently moving to the next weekend, it leaves that slot open for Rios in the co-main slot against undefeated Filipino Mercito Gesta.
Gesta and Rios are no strangers to each other, with Rios telling Gesta last year that he would tear him a new asshole should they ever get in the ring. A win over an undefeated Filipino fighter would generate some additional buzz for Rios/Pacquiao. Most importantly, it will give Rios an opportunity to look impressive, as Gesta is light-hitting and not hard to find; a bounce-back fight if you will. Gesta was originally supposed to face off against Marquez in the main event, but don't be surprised if Marquez goes up to Welterweight to face off against Filipino Mark Melligen to keep the Mexico vs. Philippines theme.
Showtime Stacking June 2 Card in Carson.
If anybody needed a clearer example of how influential Al Haymon is in the sport of boxing, look no further than Showtime's June 2 card, headlined by Antonio Tarver vs. Lateef Kayode. The undercard fights for the card will be Peter Quillin vs. Winky Wright and a fight I am very interested in pitting rising Jr. Middleweight Austin Trout vs. Delvin Rodriguez. The card was originally scheduled for May 26, putting it head to head with Carl Froch vs. Lucian Bute, but they may have moved it forward to add Gary Russell on the card and avoid competing with the more intriguing Super Middleweight clash.
Tarver, Quillin, Trout and Russell are all fighters signed with Haymon, which essentially makes June 2 an Al Haymon card. The June 2 card is shaping to become an event in and of itself and should Russell's fight be aired, it will be a quadruple-header, something we don't get outside of pay-per-view fights. Kudos to Showtime for undertaking the task, because if they told Haymon no, he probably would've used his influence to shut down the network and cancel boxing on Showtime altogether.
Danny Howard can be reached for comments or questions at dhoward@fighthype.com, Facebook, or follow him on Twitter (@DBHOWARD126). Also don't miss an episode of FightHype Radio, the baddest two hours of boxing on the planet, starting at 8pm EST.