The Next Manny Pacquiao, Nonito Donaire, Earns a Knockout Victory Saturday

WBA world super flyweight interim champion "The Filipino Flash," Nonito Donaire, captured the vacant WBC continental Americas bantamweight title with a bloody fourth round knockout of Ukrainian Wladimir Sidorenko Saturday night at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.

Donaire (25-1, 17 KOs), who hasn’t been defeated since he suffered a unanimous decision loss to Rosendo Sanchez in March 2001 in his second professional bout, dominated Sidorenko (22-2-2, seven KOs) from the outset and managed to floor the former titlist three times.

The decisive triumph earned Donaire a February fight against WBC and WBO bantamweight world champion “The Rooster” Fernando Montiel (43-2-2, 33 KOs).

Donaire, a past IBF and IBO world flyweight king who is currently rated by Ring Magazine as the No. 4 pound-for-pound boxer in the world, is constantly compared to his fellow Filipino countryman, WBO welterweight champ Manny Pacquiao (52-3-2, 38 KOs).

Pacquiao, the first prizefighter to win 10 world titles in eight different weight divisions, is a three-time Fighter of the Year and one-time Fighter of the Decade.

"It's a great honor to be compared to Manny Pacquiao," said Donaire, 28. "I mean the guy has done what no one has ever done before. So for someone to throw a name at you like that, that's a big compliment. It's like if you're starting out in basketball, and someone is calling you the next Michael Jordan. I'm like, thank you.'"

Granted, Donaire is very skilled and his rapid fists will likely earn him much future success in the squared circle.

Nevertheless, at this juncture, Donaire is strictly being linked to Pacquiao because they both hail from the Republic of the Philippines. 

“It’s unfair to compare anyone with Manny Pacquiao,” said Brad Sherwood, 30, a resident of South Boston who is employed as a personal trainer by Gold’s Gym in Medford. “Manny is in a class by himself.”

Despite the inane comparisons to Pacquiao, Nonaire is a tremendously talented pugilist and he will continue his ascension to greatness when he easily trumps “The Rooster” later this winter.