Donaire denies fight with Mijares

MANILA, Philippines - WBO super bantamweight champion Nonito Donaire Jr. debunked a report claiming that former unified super flyweight champion Cristian Mijares is being lined up as his next opponent.

In a report from one boxing site, Mijares, the former WBC and WBA super flyweight titlist, is being groomed to become Donaire’s next challenger in his first title defense on July 14 in Texas.

The same report said Donaire’s promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank is currently in talks with Mijares’ promoter Fernando Beltran to finalize the fight.

Donaire did not respond to an interview request from philstar.com, but posted a statement on his Facebook account saying that there’s still no opponent lined up for him.

“Let me just clarify this for everyone. I got no one in front of me for my next fight yet. I’ve heard lots of names tossed around, but like I said, I haven’t seen any papers yet,” Donaire wrote.

“Whoever wants to put in their application to be my next opponent go right ahead and I’ll just be sitting here while ya’ll work it out,” added the San Leandro, California-based boxer.

As of this posting, boxrec.com lists Mijares as Donaire’s next opponent in his fight at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

Philstar.com sought the comments of two Fil-Am boxing writers who have closely followed Donaire’s ring exploits, and both think that taking on Mijares will be of little significance as far as improving Donaire’s career is concerned.

“(The fight) won’t do anything for Donaire. I won’t hate on it, but I can’t jump in joy for it either. It’s a fight,” said Dennis Guillermo, who writes for examiner.com.

For his part, Ryan Songalia of RingTV.com said Donaire-Mijares should have been made a few years ago when the Mexican was still at his peak.

“(The fight is) Overcooked, I wanted to see Donaire-Mijares in ‘08 when Mijares was still considered unbeatable. Mijares has no pop,” Songalia said.

Mijares (44-6-2, with 20 KOs) ended his reign at super flyweight after losing via knockout to former Donaire victim Vic Darchinyan in a unification bout in 2008. The Mexican then dropped two consecutive fights to Nehomar Cermeno, after which he racked up eight straight victories over unknown opponents.