Nonito Donaire vs Wladimir Sidorenko Preview

Andrew Fruman previews Saturday night's bantamweight clash between Nonito Donaire and Wladimir Sidorenko.

July 7, 2007. That was the date a 24 year old Nonito Donaire sent Vic Darchinyan stumbling with a perfectly placed left hook. With a package of speed, power and poise, big things were immediately expected of the exciting new talent, but in the three years and five months since his explosive arrival, no real headway has been made.

The lack of activity and quality match-ups has been disappointing for fans, and frustrating for Donaire, but this looks like the year everything should change.  Opportunities appear to be plenty, especially when you consider the stacked nature of the 118lb class, a division Donaire will be making his debut in this Saturday night when he takes on Wladimir Sidorenko.

Donaire is coming off a stoppage victory over Hernan Marquez back in July, a bout in which he turned southpaw for several early sessions. Though he’d reportedly had success practicing as a switch hitter in the gym, Donaire had poor results as a lefty against Marquez and didn’t get a firm grip on the fight until he went back to his traditional style.

Don’t expect any such experimentation against the rugged Ukrainian. Fighting nearly exclusively in Germany, the 34 year old Sidorenko is no stranger to world class competition, having performed well against many quality bantamweights, including the likes of Joseph Agbeko, Poonsawat Kratingdaenggym, Ricardo Cordoba and the division’s current #2 (Ring & Bad Left Hook) Anselmo Moreno.

Clearly Sidorenko has the edge in high-level experience, but does he have a chance at the upset? It’s a longshot given the disparity in power and speed between the fighters, but he does enough things well to potentially give the Filipino Flash trouble.  His defense is sound, he's extremely durable, and he can push the pace of a fight or use the whole ring if need be.

Though he has shown an ability to box off his back foot and use his jab to score points, the compactly built Sidorenko is unlikely to trouble the rangy Donaire from a distance. Chances are he’ll need to use his jab and tight guard to forge forward, while backing Donaire up with 1-2's if he's to make the night uncomfortable for his quicker opponent.

Bringing the fight to Donaire will be no easy task, but certainly not impossible as Moruti Mthalane showed a couple years back. The South African flyweight was very competitive with a tight guard and fairly basic attack, before losing via TKO on cuts.

At the very least, the tough, aggressive Sidorenko should give us an idea of how powerful Donaire is against a strong natural bantamweight – and if he can take Donaire’s punishing left uppercuts and hooks without blinking, the fight could get very interesting late.

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