NONITO DONAIRE vs MORUTI MTHALANE

Nonito Donaire, one of the brightest stars of the lighter weight divisions, will be on Saturday’s PPV show in Las Vegas, defending his IBF and IBO flyweight titles against little-known but capable South African challenger Moruti Mthalane.

Donaire, 25, has shown impressive improvement. He landed one of the most spectacular punches of 2007 when he blasted Vic Darchinyan with a big left hook, and in his last fight he was punching very hard when he stopped Luis Maldonado in eight rounds.

The Filipino from San Leandro, CA, seems to have it all: speed, skill, punching power and an exciting style. Mthalane, rightly, is a big underdog.

I have hopes, though, that this might turn out to be more of a well-matched fight than the odds suggest. Mthalane has compiled a nice runs of wins after being stopped in a South African title bout four years ago. He is considered one of South Africa’s most talented fighters. Reports of his fights suggest that he is a busy puncher who maintains a fast pace throughout a contest.

Mthalane’s best performance by far was his one-sided points victory over Hussein Hussein in their elimination bout in July, but the 32-year-old Australian probably hasn’t been the same fighter since his two stoppage defeats against Jorge Arce, and just before losing to Mthalane he had been beaten by an average type of fighter in Japan. Still, Mthalane did well to win almost every round on the judges’ cards against Hussein, and the victory earned him his chance against Donaire. He is trained by Nick Durandt, who has worked with a number of top South African boxers.

Donaire hasn’t boxed since last December due to a promotional dispute, so it might take him a few rounds to get into his stride. Mthalane has promised an aggressive fight, and it wouldn’t be surprising if the South African got off to a good start. By about the fifth round, though, I think that Donaire will begin to take command. The Filipino clearly seems to be the harder puncher and he looks a weight division bigger than Mthalane. I get the feeling that Mthalane is going to be outgunned on Saturday and I think that Donaire will probably wear him down and stop him in the last three or four rounds.