World Super Bantamweight champion Nonito Donaire will defend his crown on December 15th in Houston against former world champion Jorge Arce in Houston in a bout televised by HBO according to Dan Rafael of espn.com
“You know this is a fight we’ve wanted to do and now we are able to do it,” Top Rank chief Bob Arum told ESPN.com. “We didn’t get it done in July, but after the Bradley situation, we went to our television partner and asked them for enough money to make it happen and it’s happening.”
Junior featherweight titlist Guillermo Rigondeaux (11-0, 8 KOs), who has been calling out for a unification match with Donaire, will make his third defense in the televised co-feature.
A two-time Cuban Olympic gold medalist, Rigondeaux, a southpaw, will face former titleholder Poonsawat Kratingdaenggym (48-2, 33 KOs) of Thailand. Top Rank vice president Carl Moretti told ESPN.com that the deal was agreed to on Tuesday.
“I’m emailing contracts to Thailand. We’re done,” he said. “We just went over some final stuff.”
“I’ve always liked the fight,” Cameron Dunkin, Donaire’s manager, said. “Arce’s a great name and Arce’s a tough bastard. He proved it in the fight he had with Vazquez Jr. He was a big underdog, and came back and showed what he was about (by scoring a 12th-round knockout to win a junior featherweight title). Arce will fight his ass off against Donaire.
“He’ll give it everything he’s got and he will be tough, but Nonito is so highly skilled and fighting at such a high level, I don’t see anyone at 122 dealing with him. It’s good for Nonito to get a fourth fight this year. Four times is really neat in these times in boxing where a lot of champions fight only twice a year.”
“It’s healed,” he said. “He hasn’t really done much with it (in training) yet. He’s running and staying in shape and he says if he’s in shape, he can hit with one hand for the first week or so of training and still get in four good weeks of training. That’s all he needs because he has been so active and doesn’t get out of shape.”
“HBO was prepared to go to Mexico, but the extra cost was prohibitive,” Arum said. “Donaire was willing to go there so that wasn’t the problem. The problem was we couldn’t make it work economically. They didn’t have a high-definition truck there that suited HBO and that means HBO would have to drive a truck there. It didn’t make sense for this kind of event.”
“They can say I am crazy, and much more, but I have shut the mouths of the critics in the ring many times, and against Donaire it will be no different,” Arce said. “I am preparing like never before along with the best trainer Mexico has given to the world, Nacho Beristain, and I will win on Dec. 15.”
Said Dunkin, “Nishioka is a great fighter but he was trying to play cat and mouse with Nonito. One thing about Arce, he won’t play cat and mouse. He’s coming to fight. Arce says Donaire is a good fighter but hasn’t fought anyone with any balls, so that ought to tell you how hard he will try. He’s a proud Mexican and will try to turn it into a sensational fight in Texas with so many Mexican fans there. It will be a really fun fight.”
