Nonito Donaire inks contract extension with Top Rank

The 2012 Fighter of the Year, Nonito Donaire, has just decided to extend his stay with Top Rank. Under the new deal, Donaire will be taking on Cesar Juarez on truTV, December 11th in Puerto Rico for what will likely be a vacant world title belt just recently stripped from Guillermo Rigondeaux. The specific terms of Donaire's deal has not been disclosed, but Donaire say it's for more than a year.

"Nonito came to the office to meet with me and sign the contract. And he said, 'No more fooling around, no more being a celebrity. I'm a fighter, and I'm going to work hard and stay in the gym, and you will see the best Nonito Donaire you've ever seen,'" Top Rank chairman Bob Arum told ESPN.com. "I think Donaire is really serious now. He's a great fighter, and I don't count him out against anybody."

Arum went on to suggest that if Donaire is successful against Juarez, he'll look to put together an eventual fight between Donaire and Vasyl Lomachenko.

"I would love to fight him," Donaire said. "Lomachenko is a really good fighter and a really good test for me to see where I'm at. There's talk they want to come down [to junior featherweight], but if not, we'll go back up to featherweight.

"I took things for granted before. I'm taking things for granted anymore, and I am thankful for every little thing in my life."

Arum also doesn't rule out a rematch between Donaire with Nicholas Walters, but with Walters just moving up to junior lightweight after being unable to make 126lbs in his last outing, and Donaire moving back down to 122lbs after getting stopped by Walters, weight could obviously be a major problem in making that fight again.