Last week, trainer Robert Garcia was spotted in Las Vegas, Nevada, overseeing the duties of one of his star pupils, Nonito Donaire.
The once-beaten Donaire, widely-regarded as one of the top five fighters in the world, is moving up the junior featherweight class for a February 4th collision with former champion Wilfredo Vazquez Jr. Donaire faces the brash Puerto Rican on HBO?s airwaves in San Antonio, Texas, with the vacant WBO belt on the line.
As Donaire went through the motions prior to his workout inside of the Top Rank Gym, I had a few words with Garcia about some storylines revolving in the sport.
The first figure that came to mind was that of Garcia?s fighter Brandon Rios, who last month lost his WBA lightweight crown on the scales after coming in slightly overweight for his December 3rd clash with Manchester?s John Murray. While Rios would end up pounding Murray out in eleven heats, his future had several question marks around it afterwards as it was wondered if the strain of making 135 pounds was taking its toll on him.
Garcia confirmed that Rios, possibly in hopes of landing a shot at Cuban marvel Yuriorkis Gamboa later in the year, is going to try to stick around the lightweight class a bit longer.
?That?s what we?re doing,? said Garcia. ?We?re trying to get him with a special nutritionist, somebody feeding him and making sure he does it the right way. And if we see that he?s strong enough to make it one or two more times, then we?ll do it.?
.
