Casual talk from Hollywood, California – Top Rank Godfather Robert “Bob” Arum did not make any mistake in saying that Nonito Donaire, Jr. must be crazy to sign a promotional contract with Golden
Boy Promotions when Donaire, Jr.’s contract with Top Rank is still current and enforceable.
In an exclusive article written by fellow Yahoo writer Kevin Iole, it reports that “Arbiter Daniel Weinstein, a retired California Superior Court judge, ruled Monday that Golden Boy Promotions violated a previous agreement with Top Rank not to poach each other’s fighters when it signed Donaire, the World Boxing Council/World Boxing Organization bantamweight champion, to a promotional agreement on March 16”.
It further says that “the judge agreed that Golden Boy had violated the agreement and issued an order that Golden Boy is enjoined, restrained, from purporting to promote Donaire at this time. They can not proceed under that contract at this time.”
The same article says “Top Rank claims that its three-year contract thus runs into early June 2012 and that the one-year option, which it exercised, takes Donaire into June 2013”.
Believing that he is already a free agent after being ill-advised by his cohorts, Donaire, Jr. signed a multi-promotional contract with Golden Boy Promotions a few days after winning over long-time bantamweight champion Fernando Montiel last February 19.
With this resolution at hand favoring Top Rank, it looks like Donaire, Jr. cannot escape his likely “roadblocks” which he may have just attempted to avoid by signing a contract with Golden Boy Promotions. But, they should not be regarded as “roadblocks” to his greater glory since these are the true warriors who can truly test his skills and toughness in the ring of madness, namely: Juan Manuel Lopez and Yuriorkis Gamboa.
Lopez, 27, has 30 wins, bearing 27 knockouts at 90% while Gamboa, 29, has 20 wins bearing 16 knockouts at 80%. Lopez is a southpaw and Gamboa an orthodox, both standing 5′ 1/2″ and currently
contesting side by side at 126 pounds in the featherweight division.
And Donaire, Jr. at this time has expressed to preferably stay in the bantamweight division, possibly for another longer period in the super bantamweight, to avoid these two fighters.
All three have launched their respective professional boxing careers in different periods: Lopez in 2005, Gamboa in 2007 and Donairre, Jr. in 2001.
Donaire is the current WBC and WBO bantamweight titlist (Unified). His total knockout percentage out of his 36 wins is 76.32.
After ten years of hopping back and forth in the flyweight and bantamweight divisions, he must move up to featherweight division in less than a year and fight aging Rafael Marquez, at least, before facing Lopez and Gamboa.
By the way, Marquez, now 36, would still be a good match. Donaire, Jr. may have a good chance to beat the skillful Mexican who has 39 wins and 6 losses, boasting 77.78% wins by way of knockouts.
Staying in the lower division and fighting less competitive fighters can likely repulse Donaire, Jr.’s increasing attraction to become a high paying athlete like Manny Pacquiao, whom he wants to emulate.
Pacquiao’s current pay ranges over $ 10 million versus Donaire, Jr.’s last purse of $375,000 over Montiel.
Now, what is more of him if he fears to move up to higher weight classes or just continue to “cherry-pick” easily beatable opponents?
