Pacquiao, Donaire double treat on Nov 5

THE bout between World Boxing Organization ( WBO) super bantamweight champion Nonito “The Filipino Flash” Donaire Jr. and Jessie Magdaleno will be the comain event of the Manny Pacquiao vs Jessie Vargas fight on November 5 at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.

“It is going to be very big, absolutely,” Top Rank chief Bob Arum told The Manila Times via overseas call on Thursday. “It could attract more than 6’ 000 boxing fans and I expect at least $ 890, 000 pay- perview purse in that fight card.”

“We already agreed about it. I talked to Cameron Dunkin ( Donaire’s manager) and Donaire’s wife Rachel and they were very happy. Both fights, Pacquiao- Vargas and DonaireMagdaleno, are blockbuster. The fans are very excited,” added Arum.

Though HBO will no longer air the fight, Arum is confident that ESPN, Turner Sports and Showtime could be the new distributor of the pay- per- view bout.

“It is not going to be a problem,” he said. “We can also distribute the fight by ourselves. We could do it and that’s one of the options.”

Pacquiao, with a 58- 6- 2 win- lossdraw record with 38 knockouts, will return to boxing against Vargas, the reigning WBO welterweight champion with a 27- 1 record with 10 knockouts.

Donaire with a 37- 3 win- loss record with 24 knockouts will be defending his 11th world title against Magdaleno who’s undefeated in 23 fights with 17 knockouts.