Nonito Donaire Vs. Jeffrey Mathebula - Was He Lucky?

Suprised no ones talked about this fight considering Donaires in a lot of peoples P4P Top 3.

So, was he lucky?

Well, not from my viewpoint, I had Donaire a slightly close but relatively comfortable UD.

The scorecards however for me where somewhat of a joke, with one judge only giving Mathebula a round!!

If Mathebula (And I'm not calling him a wimp) but was a bit more of a warrior, and perhaps if he had respectable power he could have taken this fight, sadly for South Africa the man did nothing but run away for some rounds. There were rounds that were pretty hard to score though, where it was pretty much what you preffered, 1 or two combinations with very little power versus one big hook landing. Huge KD in round 4 made Mathebula start the running, and pretty much made him scared to start throwing for a few rounds. Gotta say though during those periods although Donaire was the one pressing, he did virtually nothing that was effective himself.

All in all Donaire did well, but got made to look a bit average, must also note Mathebula had some serious arm length and height on Donaire which is something he isn't used to as he's usually the one with the advantages. Now for me with Donaire it's sort of just like, let's stick him in with someone isn't scared of the speed and power, someone who's defensively very strong and will ask him loads of questions... If only there was something like a Cuban Double Gold medalist that holds a belt at SBW and was preferably in the same promotional team....

Has to be nishioka next for me, been the best at the weight for years now, would also be an interesting Japan vs phillipines battle.

Yeah that would also be fantastic, either Nishioka or Rigondeaux would suit me just fine!!

I think Donaire should move back down to Bantam if he can make it, he's not the same animal at Super Bantamweight.

He looked devastating in the division below whereas now he's very lacklustre, not sure if it's the weight or he's tried becoming too reliant on his power.

Maybe need to see him a tad more at SBW to properly make that assessment.

Mathebula I don't think had ever touched down, but when Donaire landed his best shot he was seriously gone in round 4 and would have had him out if he had 20 seconds. He looked close to having him gone again in the last two, the power to me still looks there.

I think Ghosty is right with the over reliance on his power, he seems to have abandoned some of his boxing and goes looking for the big KO a bit too much.

Yeah he didn't box his way in at all, just seemed to want to jump in and land the huge shots.

If you look at the montiel fight he set up traps to open up countering opportunities, something he doesn't do any more.

I don't think so, Mathebula was backing up all night and after he tasted the power he didn't want to know. Donaire won 8 rounds in my opinion, Mathebulas shots were doing pretty much nothing. I wish he had boxed his way in a bit more, but I still thought he looked good. Sometimes his foot work was mesmerizing, he practically had Mathebula tripping over his own feet trying to get out of the way.

BoxingFan88 wrote:I don't think so, Mathebula was backing up all night and after he tasted the power he didn't want to know. Donaire won 8 rounds in my opinion, Mathebulas shots were doing pretty much nothing. I wish he had boxed his way in a bit more, but I still thought he looked good. Sometimes his foot work was mesmerizing, he practically had Mathebula tripping over his own feet trying to get out of the way.

Thats what I thought, although the scorecards were stupid I can't see why many were complaining.