Bedak agrees to Donaire terms

MANILA, Philippines - Only Hungarian fighter Zsolt Bedak’s signature on the contract is missing but WBO superbantamweight champion Nonito Donaire Jr. said the other day it’s almost a done deal for their title bout to take place at the Smart Araneta Coliseum on April 23 with first choice Evgeny Gradovich unable to scale down to the 122-pound limit.

It was four days ago when Donaire’s manager Cameron Dunkin confirmed an agreement had been made. “Bedak’s manager (Felix Racz) agreed to terms and was just waiting on the contract to sign,” said Donaire. After the PSA Awards Night on Feb. 13, Donaire and his family will leave Manila for Las Vegas. Donaire will hook up with his father Nonito Sr. in training for Bedak at the Top Rank Gym. No date has been set for Donaire to return to Manila.

“We won’t miss it,” said Donaire, referring to the PSA Awards Night. Donaire, 33, will be sharing the Athlete of the Year award with WBO lightflyweight champion Donnie Nietes and golfer Miguel Tabuena. It will be Donaire’s fourth award from the PSA. The first came in 2007 when he shared the honor with swimmer Miguel Molina. In 2011, Donaire and cue artist Dennis Orcullo were cited. And in 2012, Donaire shared the award with the Manila women’s softball team, boxer Josie Gabuco and the Ateneo senior men’s basketball squad.

Gradovich, a former IBF featherweight champion, was the hot option to face Donaire in the first defense of the vacant crown he won on a unanimous 12-round decision over Cesar Juarez in Puerto Rico last month. But Gradovich couldn’t bring down his weight and scaled a hefty 128 in pounding out a majority 10-round decision over Jesus Galicia in Spain last Jan. 9. The fight against Galicia was supposed to be a test of whether or not Gradovich could drop to the superbantamweight division to challenge Donaire.

Bedak, 32, is an accomplished amateur who decisioned Mexico’s Abner Mares, 36-27, at the 2004 Athens Olympics. Mares went on to become the IBF bantamweight, WBC superbantamweight and WBC featherweight champion. Bedak qualified for the Olympics by topping the European qualifiers in Bulgaria.

At the 2005 World Cup in Moscow, Bedak fought for Romania in a team competition against Cuba and Thailand. He lost to Cuba’s Guillermo Rigondeaux, 28-11, and beat Thailand’s Worapoj Petechkoom, the 2004 Olympic bantamweight silver medalist. Worapoj defeated Filipino Joan Tipon, 13-5, at the 2007 World Championships. As a pro, Rigondeaux beat Donaire on points in 2013.

Bedak is known as Mr. Left Hook which coincidentally is Donaire’s killer punch. Bedak’s KO rate, however, isn’t impressive with only eight stoppages in a 25-1 record. His only loss was a 10th round technical KO to Wilfredo Vazquez Jr. in Puerto Rico in 2010. Donaire scored a split 12-round decision over Vazquez in San Antonio, Texas, in 2012.

Bedak has won his last 10 outings, all in Hungary. He has never fought in Asia as a pro. Bedak has seen action in the Czech Republic, Germany, Austria, Puerto Rico and Hungary. It will be his Asian debut when he faces Donaire at the Big Dome. One of Bedak’s victims was Filipino Ramie Laput who capitulated in seven rounds in Austria in 2009. Bedak is coming off a win on points over Kenya’s Nick Otieno who knocked out Filipino Rexon Flores in seven rounds in Davao City in 2008.

Bedak, the WBO No. 5 contender, is one of nine Hungarian fighters in Racz’ stable. Of the nine fighters, six are unbeaten. Racz, 42, is Romanian and lives in Budapest.  Dunkin is in talks with Racz to confirm the Bedak fight against Donaire.

Donaire, his wife Rachel and their two sons Jarel and Logan have been in Manila since Dec. 17. They were initially booked to leave Manila at the end of this month but postponed the departure when the PSA announced that Donaire would be honored at the Awards Night at One Esplanade on Feb. 13. The Donaires pushed back their departure to Feb. 15.

Since losing the WBA featherweight crown to Jamaica’s Nicholas Walters on a sixth round stoppage in Carson City in October 2014, Donaire has won three in a row. His recent victory over Juarez was a brawl which Top Rank named its Fight of the Year. Donaire floored the durable Mexican twice in the fourth round then twisted his left foot in accidentally stepping on referee Ramon Peña’s foot while backtracking to recoil in the sixth. Donaire’s mobility was curtailed due to the twist but he refused to quit and battled like a warrior until the final bell to win a convincing decision.

“I’ve gone back to the drawing board and been really humble,” said Donaire, quoted by Danny Flexen in Boxing News. “I’m trying to take boxing as seriously as I can. I’ve been in training whenever I can, where before I’d only train if I was scheduled (to fight) Now, I’m even working out after training, going back for another session, I’m where I was in the early days. I’m eating healthy, not all kinds of crap. I’m doing all the right things like meal-prepping so we’ll see where it goes. I just move on each day and try to be a better father and a better husband. Each day, I try to be as happy as I can.”