Nonito Donaire

Abner Mares has admired Robert Guerrero's courage in standing up to his promoters for the title shot he wants. World Boxing Council super-bantamweight champion Mares started to do the same Tuesday, making it clear that if he achieves his plan to break through the tight defense of Panama's Anselmo Moreno on Nov. 10 at Staples Center, he wants Nonito Donaire next. Mares is promoted by Los Angeles-based Golden Boy Promotions, and International Boxing Federation and World Boxing Organization champion Donaire (29-1, 18 knockouts)

Brandon Rios and Mike Alvarado's epic brawl at Home Depot Center in October will have a sequel. Promoter Bob Arum said Wednesday that Rios and Alvarado have agreed to a junior-welterweight rematch March 30 at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. Rios (31-0-1, 23 knockouts) won the October bout by technical knockout in the seventh round after taking some of Alvarado's best punches in earlier rounds. The gripping battle was poised to be the 2012 fight of the year until Juan Manuel Marquez and Manny Pacquiao engaged in a classic, featuring an exchange of knockdowns before Marquez knocked out Pacquiao in devastating fashion at the end of the sixth round in December.

Nonito Donaire hopes to affirm his position as one of the world's top super-bantamweights Saturday night. Brandon Rios is out to prove he can take a brawler's best punch in his junior-welterweight debut. Their fight card at Home Depot Center in Carson has created some buzz for boxing's hard-core fans. Donaire (29-1, 18 knockouts), the International Boxing Federation and World Boxing Organization champion, faces perhaps his stiffest challenge yet in the main event against World Boxing Council champion Toshiaki Nishioka (39-4-3, 24 KOs)

The sweetness of home is something Abner Mares, Alfredo Angulo and Leo Santa Cruz will each embrace Saturday in their respective fights at Staples Center. For World Boxing Council super-bantamweight champion Mares (24-0-1, 13 knockouts), finding himself in the main event against Panama's Anselmo Moreno (33-1-1, 12 KOs) is validation. Mares, 26, emerged from poverty in Hawaiian Gardens to make himself a world champion, a fact he let soak in last week attending an NBA game at the arena.

Nonito Donaire scored a unanimous decsion over Jeffrey Mathebula to capture the International Boxing Federation super-bantamweight title Saturday night at the Home Depot Center. The title is the second in the 122-pound division for the Filipino-American. He now stands at 29-1 during a career in which he recently moved up to super-bantamweight. The three judges scored in favor of Donaire, 117-110, 118-109 and 119-108. What Mathebula (26-4-2) benefited from in height and reach - he is 41/2 inches taller - Donaire made up for in speed and power.

Brandon Rios and Mike Alvarado engaged in a fight-of-the-year slugfest at Home Depot Center on Saturday night, with Oxnard's Rios notching a seventh-round technical knockout that proves he retains wallop while moving up in weight. Nonito Donaire couldn't match the nonstop brawling of that bout, but he did take another step toward standing as the world's top super-bantamweight with a ninth-round technical knockout of Japan's Toshiaki Nishioka. Former lightweight champion Rios, in his junior-welterweight debut, unleashed a pair of hard overhand rights in the seventh, then pounded two lefts onto Alvarado's mug to force referee Pat Russell to stop the fight at the 1:57 mark.

Nonito Donaire appeared to be on the precipice of boxing stardom last year when he scored a sensational second-round technical knockout of veteran champion Fernando Montiel. Donaire's performance, with a mix of speed and power, compared favorably to his Filipino countryman Manny Pacquiao. But since then Donaire (28-1, 18 knockouts) has lost some of his career momentum. First, he squabbled with his promoter, Bob Arum, and didn't fight for eight months, then Donaire returned to gain a sluggish decision followed by a split-decision in claiming the World Boxing Organization junior-featherweight title.

Nonito Donaire of the Philippines lacks the two world title bantamweight belts belonging to his Feb. 19 opponent, Fernando Montiel of Mexico, but he does have the awareness to recognize what the 118-pound bout at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas means. "The little guys have been deprived of getting big fights on HBO," Donaire (25-1, 17 KOs) said Tuesday at a news conference at the downtown Biltmore Hotel. "This is our shot. " The Filipino is riding the momentum of three 2010 stoppages, including a superb Dec. 4 fourth-round knockout of former world champion Wladimir Sidorenko at Anaheim's Honda Center.

The son of a Mexican boxing legend was replaced in the main event of Saturday night's pay-per-view boxing card at Anaheim's Honda Center by the second-most popular fighter from the Philippines. The extra attention on Nonito Donaire's bantamweight-title elimination bout against Ukraine's Wladimir Sidorenko was created by Tuesday's main-event withdrawal by middleweight Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. because of a high fever and flu symptoms. A week earlier, Alfonso Gomez, Chavez's originally scheduled opponent, backed out because of a torn elbow ligament.

The sweetness of home is something Abner Mares, Alfredo Angulo and Leo Santa Cruz will each embrace Saturday in their respective fights at Staples Center. For World Boxing Council super-bantamweight champion Mares (24-0-1, 13 knockouts), finding himself in the main event against Panama's Anselmo Moreno (33-1-1, 12 KOs) is validation. Mares, 26, emerged from poverty in Hawaiian Gardens to make himself a world champion, a fact he let soak in last week attending an NBA game at the arena.

He's had more than a minute to think about his minute of decline. Nearly a year ago, Cain Velasquez saw the fulfillment of his lifetime of fighting dashed in an instant by the massive punching power of Junior Dos Santos. Velasquez battled from the farmlands of Central California to become an Arizona State wrestler, and ultimately defeated pro wrestling legend Brock Lesnar to win the Ultimate Fighting Championship's heavyweight title. His first defense was the UFC's highly publicized debut bout on Fox, the only fight of the night.

Hall of fame boxing trainer Emanuel Steward, who directed the careers of several champion fighters including Thomas Hearns, Lennox Lewis and current heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko, has died. Steward's executive assistant, Victoria Kirton, reported the trainer's death at a Chicago hospital to the Associated Press on Thursday afternoon. Steward's family has not identified a cause of death. The personable Steward, 68, was one of his sport's greatest resources of information, and served as an analyst on HBO's most significant fights since 2001.

Brandon Rios and Mike Alvarado engaged in a fight-of-the-year slugfest at Home Depot Center on Saturday night, with Oxnard's Rios notching a seventh-round technical knockout that proves he retains wallop while moving up in weight. Nonito Donaire couldn't match the nonstop brawling of that bout, but he did take another step toward standing as the world's top super-bantamweight with a ninth-round technical knockout of Japan's Toshiaki Nishioka. Former lightweight champion Rios, in his junior-welterweight debut, unleashed a pair of hard overhand rights in the seventh, then pounded two lefts onto Alvarado's mug to force referee Pat Russell to stop the fight at the 1:57 mark.

Nonito Donaire hopes to affirm his position as one of the world's top super-bantamweights Saturday night. Brandon Rios is out to prove he can take a brawler's best punch in his junior-welterweight debut. Their fight card at Home Depot Center in Carson has created some buzz for boxing's hard-core fans. Donaire (29-1, 18 knockouts), the International Boxing Federation and World Boxing Organization champion, faces perhaps his stiffest challenge yet in the main event against World Boxing Council champion Toshiaki Nishioka (39-4-3, 24 KOs)

Five years ago, flyweight boxing champ Nonito Donaire felt as if his body had shrunk as he dieted to make the 112-pound weight limit to defend his title. Blood was in his urine before the bout, Donaire recalled. "Everything about you is not there," he said. "You feel like an animal. " Donaire won that bout, but he later moved up in weight to avoid such trauma. On Saturday he fights in a super-bantamweight title unification bout in Carson against Toshiaki Nishioka at a more comfortable 122-pound limit.

Abner Mares has admired Robert Guerrero's courage in standing up to his promoters for the title shot he wants. World Boxing Council super-bantamweight champion Mares started to do the same Tuesday, making it clear that if he achieves his plan to break through the tight defense of Panama's Anselmo Moreno on Nov. 10 at Staples Center, he wants Nonito Donaire next. Mares is promoted by Los Angeles-based Golden Boy Promotions, and International Boxing Federation and World Boxing Organization champion Donaire (29-1, 18 knockouts)

Nonito Donaire unanimously outpointed Rafael Concepcion on Saturday night in his first super-flyweight fight to take the World Boxing Assn. interim title in Las Vegas. Donaire, the 26-year-old Filipino star who vacated his IBF flyweight title to move up in weight, improved to 22-1 with his 21st consecutive victory. Judge Max De Luca scored the fight 117-111, Duane Ford had it 115-113, and Jerry Roth called it 116-112. Donaire used a potent jab to cut open a gash under Concepcion's left eye midway through the second round at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino.

The lost interest in Saturday's fight card resulting from a canceled main event did not apply to Humberto Soto and Urbano Antillon, who staged a stirring world lightweight title bout at the Honda Center. Soto, relying on his ability to strike the challenger with barrages, made his third successful title defense by outlasting Maywood's Antillon in a close unanimous decision. Soto (54-7-2) weathered the tough, charging Antillon (28-2) even as the champion's legs weakened in the final rounds, claiming victory by scores of 114-113 twice (Alejandro Rochin and Alan Krebs)

Guillermo Rigondeaux is trying to build an audience, but he's just 11 fights into his professional career, and his personality is on the south side of engaging. The two-time Olympic champion from Cuba is something to watch in the ring, however, as he proved Saturday in defending his World Boxing Assn. super-bantamweight title with two knockdowns in a unanimous decision over Mexico's Roberto Marroquin. Judges Glenn Feldman and Robert Hoyle scored the bout 118-108, and Ricardo Ocasio had it 118-109.

Unlike the Sept. 15 conflict of boxing cards pitting Mexican stars Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., there won't be another conflict of dates between super-bantamweight champions. Golden Boy Promotions Chief Executive Richard Schaefer announced to The Times on Wednesday that World Boxing Council champion Abner Mares of Hawaiian Gardens will move off Oct. 13, and fight Anselmo Moreno on Oct. 27 at Honda Center in Anaheim. The date change clears a conflict with World Boxing Organization and International Boxing Federation super-bantamweight champion Nonito Donaire, who will defend his belts Oct. 13 at Home Depot Center in Carson against Japan's Toshiaki Nishioka.