Donaire has successfully defended his title twice after regaining it in a title fight against Cesar Juarez last year at the Roberto Clemente Coliseum in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Since his loss to Nicholas Walters two years ago, Donaire has been doing well at super bantamweight, having won all his fights in the same weight limit. Three of his four wins came by way of knockout.
This goes to show that Donaire is comfortable at 122 pounds and should stay there as long as he keeps on winning.
But as early as August this year, Donaire has already thought of moving up again to 126 pounds as he salivates a showdown with Oscar Valdez down the road. Valdez is the defending his WBO featherweight title also on Nov.5 at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nev.
“I definitely want to go back to 126 when I get done with 122. Valdez is an amazing fighter. He’s a freaking hungry lion and a champion and an amazing person first and foremost. He’s an amazing champion and that is definitely something to look forward to,” Donaire told BoxingScene.com.
Moving up in weight for his immediate future fights could be disastrous to Donaire. He experienced a major setback when he took on Walters at 126 pounds two years ago.
It would be better for Donaire to clean up the 122 pounds division before moving up.
Cuban Olympic gold medalist Guillermo Rigondeaux is still active in the division and a rematch would be a good option after the Magdaleno fight. Then there is Scott Quigg, who is mulling a comeback fight after losing to Carl Frampton last February.
If Donaire is looking for a money-making fight, Quigg would be the answer — provided the fight is held in the U.K., as Quigg is quite popular among boxing fans there.
Two other potential opponents for Donaire in the 122 pound division include Hozumi Hasegawa, who is the reigning WBC super bantamweight titlist and Jonathan Guzman, who holds the IBF super bantamweight title.
With the wide choice of opponents in the 122-pound division, Donaire need not move sooner to the 126-pound limit in search for lucrative fights.
