Darchinyan rematch next for Donaire?

BARELY recovered from a shoulder operation last April, former WBO-WBA super bantamweight champion Nonito Donaire Jr. is  back in training for a fight tentatively scheduled sometime in the last quarter of this year.

The operation, performed after his April 13 fight with two-time Olympic gold medalist Guillermo Rigondeaux, was to repair a couple of torn ligaments and excise a bone spur that had grown over a long period of time and aggravated by his last fight  with the Cuban boxer, who beat him by unanimous decision at Radio City Music Hall in New York.

A Philboxing report said Vic Darchinyan is eager for a rematch with Donaire, who knocked him out in the fifth round in 2007 to wrest the IBF-IBO flyweight titles.

It isn’t known yet if Top Rank, which handles both Donaire and Darchinyan, is currently working on this rematch, but Top Rank president Todd DuBoef is said to be in New York finalizing details of Donaire’s fight with HBO Sports executives.

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Considering that both fighters are under Bob Arum’s Top Rank Promotions, boxing observers say a rematch will be easy to arrange.

However, Darchinyan wants the fight scheduled in September—which is only about three months away—and Donaire’s handlers feel his shoulder operation may not be fully healed by that time.

We should know for sure when DuBoef returns from his meeting with HBO.

So how does Donaire feel about a rematch with Darchinyan?

“I won’t back down from any fighter. I feel great,”, said The Filipino Flash, who eagerly awaits the birth of his son, his first child this July.

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A colleague warned me not to believe everything I read online.

He issued this word of caution after I asked him if it was true that Manny Pacquiao’s former sparring partner Amir Khan would be given a shot at Floyd Mayweather Jr. if he wins his upcoming IBF welterweight fight against Devon Alexander this December in Dubai.

“If he fares well, next in line for Khan is a fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr.,” Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer was quoted as saying. “All he needs is a good win and a title.”

My colleague said it will never happen, unless Khan wants to commit suicide.

“Mayweather will kill him!”

Khan is coming off a victory against Julio Diaz, but my colleague said that’s nothing to crow about.

“Diaz is powerless,” he said. “They’re just saying Mayweather is next in line for Khan to hype his fight with Alexander in Dubai this December.”

Meanwhile, the undefeated Mayweather clashes with  Saul “Canelo” Alvarez on Sept. 14.