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Nonito Donaire is fighting a bigger opponent on July 7, 2012 for a couple of reasons. First, he wants to defend his championship belt, second, is to unify it with the IBF title, and regain glory after his lackluster performances in his last two fights.
Donaire is fighting the South African champion Jeffrey Mathebula for the WBO-IBF unification bout at the Home Depot Center, Carson, California.
The fight is going to be aired live by HBO.
The Filipino Flash is coming up the ring with an impressive 28-1, 18 KO record while Mathebula holds a 26-3-2, 14 KO.
In this fight, Donaire will be the smaller fighter standing at 5’5 ½” while his opponent will have the reach and height advantage having the height of 5’10”.
Despite the disadvantage, Donaire and his team promised that they have trained real hard in order to earn an impressive win against the South African.
Robert Garcia is Nonito’s trainer.
According to Donaire, he really prepared for this fight, and is one of the most difficult training camps that he had.
“This is the hardest I’ve trained. Mathebula is a tough opponent, and I’ve re-dedicated myself in camp.
You’ll see a different Filipino Flash this time around.”
Donaire has been criticized for his not so impressive wins in his last two fights against Narvaez and Vasquez.
Expected of Donaire in this fight is that he will be using the ring, use the angles and go inside in order to hit Mathebula.
“This time, I’m there every day. I’m taking this fight seriously and see how I feel, and hopefully I carry it on for the remainder of my career,” Donaire said.
A win against Mathebula may signal another move for Donaire to move up in weight division.
The fight is to be aired live by ABS-CBN Sports, while replay of Donaire vs Mathebula fight is to be aired by Studio 23 on primetime for Filipino fans.
