Donaire wants bigger fights

Nonito Donaire Jr. can’t wait to get rid of South African Moruti Mthalane as he looked forward to more fights next year even if it means moving up in weight – one or two notches higher.

“I’m hoping to put a good show in this fight and you’ll see more of me next year,” Donaire told yesterday’s PSA Forum through phone patch from his training quarters in Las Vegas.

Donaire will defend his IBO and IBF flyweight titles against Mthalane at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas on Sunday. A victory will keep the native of Bohol on top of the 112-lb division. (More on Donaire in Sporting Chance A-30).

It will be the second defense of the title he snatched from Vic Darchinyan last year. He first defended the title by knocking out Luis Maldonado in eight rounds last July in Connecticut.

But he’s been inactive since then as his camp blamed differences with his former promoter Gary Shaw. Donaire has hooked up with a new one, Top Rank’s Bob Arum, and is happy about it.

“I’m happy that I’m going to fight again after nearly a year. I feel really good – mentally and physically. I’ve tried to be a lot better for this fight to impress the Top Rank people,” he said.

Donaire said he trained hard for this fight, a little over two months.

“I’m really not sure how many rounds of sparring I had. I’m not really a big believer in a lot of sparring. As long as my body is sharp and my punches are great then I know I’m ready,” he said.

Mthalane has an impressive ring record of 22 wins with only one loss and 15 knockouts while Donaire will carry his record of 19 wins, a loss and 12 KOs into the fight.

Darchinyan, who was so stunned when Donaire’s knocked him out early last year, also fights on Sunday, against WBA and WBCsuper-flyweight (115 lbs) champion Christian Mijares in California.

“I’ll fight anybody. I’m ready to go up anytime. There are so many good fighters at 115 but I leave it up to my promoter. But I like it better if I fight in the 115 or 118 (bantamweight),” he said.

Mthalane has never fought outside of South Africa.

“It doesn’t matter. I know he’s going to give all he’s got to make things happen for himself. But I won’t let that happen. He’s a tough guy but shorter than me,” said the 5-foot-6 Donaire.

“He throws a lot of punches and most of all he has a lot of stamina. But we can go toe-to-toe or I can box him. He’s probably hoping that he can take my punches. It’s either my hand breaks or his face breaks.”

Donaire, who turns 26 in a couple of weeks, will fight in the undercard of the Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. rematch with Matt Vanda.