Nonito Donaire is dropping down in weight... but why? He's one of boxing's good guys, and achieved so much already. Nonito is a 5 division champion (who was unified in 3 of those divisions). This would be the perfect time for him to get out of the game. He has more to offer his young family, and young fighters. He is a first ballot hall of famer, former fighter of the year, who has scored highlight-reel KOs over fellow hall of famers. His loss to Walters is forgivable, if the young Jamaican is half as good as we think he is, but Donaire is still left with nothing more to prove.
Speaking of proving one-self... Deontay Wilder's win over Stiverne was probably the perfect scenario for him. He'll never fully answer every question with only one fight. However, he went all 12, showed his boxing skills, and even got to show good defense and a fairly solid chin. The latter issue will make him an even bigger favorite over Fury than he would have been, but now he's be a big favorite over everyone in the division except Klitschko. Even talented men like Pulev, Thompson, Haye, and Povetkin would not be favored over the young American. Regardless, he has already out-achieved every recent US challenger at heavyweight since Hasim Rahman.
Speaking of Klitschko, he is almost nearing the point where Donaire has reached. The difference is that Nonito had a loss as a good reason to walk away. Klitschko is going to have to choose from the point of view of having nothing left to prove. Pretty much everyone is in agreement that Jennings and Wilder/Fury winner are the only fights left of any interest to him. However, Wilder and Fury will likely pose for another year before fighting each other. They will also try and allow big Wlad to age a bit more. I hope he does not take the bait. I'd love to see it, but it's only going to happen if Wlad waits around for useless mandatories, and falls for the aging bait. Instead, he should beat Jennings, and announce he will have one more fight... and then only fight Wilder if he beats Fury. That will start the ball rolling. Champs have to act like champs, and manage their contenders in a way.
Speaking of 'contenders', I am very glad that TV show is gone. I am very much looking forward to the network TV re-emergence of boxing. Late, great comedian Greg Giraldo once quipped about the show "Contender", 'we've already got a TV show to tell us who's the best boxer... it's called "Boxing"'. Glad to see network TV is dropping the fake-ness that is "reality" from the sport. Uninformed sportswriters have been writing of the death of boxing for years, and the latest reason was thought to be the MMA explosion. Welcome to yet another example of how the exact opposite is happening. There are new young fight fans being made all the time, and they don't belong to a team. They want action. They will watch both sports, happily, and I am glad to see the option being made available to them.
Chris Strait
www.convictedartist.com
