Donaire, Vazquez all pumped up for clash

here were a few choice words exchanged between Nonito Donaire and Wilfredo Vazquez Jr. Photo by Top Rank Boxing/Chris Farina

MANILA, Philippines—Nonito Donaire Jr., and Wilfredo Vazquez Jr., traded dagger looks and exchanged heated words during the final press conference for their WBO super bantamweight title fight on Saturday (Sunday morning in Manila) at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.

Reports coming out of news and sports sites in the Internet had both fighters shoving each other during the routine photo-ops and had to be restrained by their respective camps.

The drama, however, didn’t change the fact that the 29-year-old Donaire is the overwhelming favorite in their 12-round bout. The “Filipino Flash” is No. 4 in the pound-for-pound list of Ring Magazine.

Vazquez is coming off one of the most spectacular meltdowns last year when he bowed to an aging Mexican warrior Jorge Arce.

Vazquez displayed a lot of swagger in predicting that he would knock out Donaire, who has not lost in 11 years.

“I’m going to win no matter how. I’m going to do my job round by round and when I have him ready, something will happen,” the Puerto Rican was quoted by examiner.com as saying. “I watched his videos and noticed that when you put pressure on him he can’t fight. That’s what I’m going to do and I’m going to knock him out for sure.”

Donaire shrugged it all off and instead welcomed Vazquez’ boasts.

“Bring it on, I’m glad it’s not going to be a boring fight,” he told ABS-CBN.

“What I’ve heard so far is music to my ears,” Donaire was quoted as saying by AFP. “What they’ve said has really fired me up.”

Both camps have engaged in heated exchanges over Twitter and Facebook with Vazquez’s wife allegedly starting it by calling the “Filipino Flash” a coward.

They are fighting as co-headliner for the WBC middleweight championship fight between Julio Cezar Chavez Jr., and Marco Antonio Rubio.