THIS Saturday, “The Filipino Flash” Nonito Donaire Jr. will defend his WBO super bantamweight title against Hungarian Zsolt Bedak at the open-air Cebu City Sports Complex.
Bedak arrived at the Queen City of the South with his brother Norbert last Saturday, but up to now, not much has been written about him or his boxing career.
Bedak is an Olympian who fought in Athens in 2004 and reached the round of 16.
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Fighting professionally in 2009, Bedak clashed with Filipino veteran Ronnie Laput for the WBO Intercontinental belt in Austria.
Bedak knocked out Laput in the seventh round, paving the way for a world title fight with Wilfredo Vazquez Jr. of Mexico in May 2010 in Puerto Rico.
Vazquez knocked out Bedak who, until then, was undefeated in 25 fights.
Donaire also had the chance to face Vasquez in February of 2012. The match went down the wire, ending in a split decision win by the Mexican.
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Experts say Bedak is confident he has a good chance to win against Donaire because he is more of a boxer than a slugger.
Bedak is also motivated by the fact that this is his golden chance to become a world champion and his style would give him the advantage to defeat Donaire.
Experts also say Donaire is having difficulties with “pure boxers.”
It was noted that Donaire failed to take out Omar Narvaez of Argentina in 12 rounds when they clashed in New York in 2011 while he was badly battered by two-time Olympic gold medalist Guillermo Rigondeaux. The two are regarded as pure boxers.