Donaire newest toast in boxing

MANILA, Philippines - Hold your horses for the Filipino Flash.

“There is no rush,” Larry Merchant, the legendary boxing commentator, told The Examiner the day after Nonito Donaire Jr. scored a devastating second-round knockout of Fernando Montiel in Las Vegas.

The victory gave the 28-year-old Filipino, who is fast following the footsteps of Manny Pacquiao, the World Boxing Council and World Boxing Organization bantamweight (118 lb) titles.

Donaire had also won the International Boxing Federation flyweight (112 lb) crown and the World Boxing Association interim super-flyweight (115 lb) title.

Following the victory, which put Donaire up the ladder of champions, came immediate plans of him unifying the bantamweight titles, moving up as a super-bantamweight, featherweight or super-featherweight.

Bob Arum, Donaire’s great promoter, said the newly crowned champion could be competitive up to the super-featherweight class at 130 lb.

“Donaire is too fast, too big and too powerful. I can see Donaire taking on (WBO featherweight champion) Juanma Lopez in a big money fight,” Arum was quoted as saying after the big win.

Donaire also thinks he can go all the way up, and once he said that his plan is to collect as many world titles as he can.

Pacquiao is the only boxer in history to win eight world titles in as many weight divisions – from flyweight (112), super-bantam (122), featherweight (126), super-feather (130), lightweight (135), super-lightweight (140), welterweight (147) and super-welterweight (154).

But it took Pacquiao 12 years to collect these world titles.

“Pacquiao didn’t get there overnight,” said Merchant who nonetheless confirmed that the victory over Montiel had made Donaire a certified star.

“I think it places him in the top level, in the elite level in the sport,” he said.

But Merchant, who’d seen the rise and fall of many, had reservations on how far Donaire’s rising popularity could take him.

“The question is, whether American viewers care about bantamweights. It’s very rare that American fight fans have shown much interest in fighters in that weight class.

“He also showed that he has the kind of skill and strength that he could move up to the featherweight divisions,” he said.

“Just keep fighting the best guys out there and good things will happen if you are good enough to beat them. The results will speak for themselves.”

There’s nowhere to go but up for Donaire, the newest toast in boxing.

But not too fast, not too drastic, perhaps.