Donaire deserves rematch with Inoue –Top Rank’s Arum
WORLD Boxing Council (WBC) bantamweight champion Nonito “The Filipino Flash” Donaire Jr. deserves a rematch with unified world champion Naoya Inoue of Japan this year, Top Rank boss Bob Arum said.
Arum told Businessmirror in an internet call from his Las Vegas home on Thursday that negotiation are onging between Donaire’s promoter, Probellum CEO Richard Schaefer, and Inoue’s Teiken Promotions head Akihiko Honda.
“He’s [Donaire] always been a terrific and an interesting fighter,” the 90-year-old Arum said, adding that the Filipino-american’s back-to-back knockout wins last year over former world champion Nordine Oubaali of France in May and compatriot Reymart Gaballo last December both in Carson City showed he’s ready for a rematch with Inoue.
Arum said that the November 2019 fight between Donaire and the unbeaten Inoue (22-0 winloss record with 19 knockouts) in Saitama, Japan was a classic showdown where both fighters traded barrage of punches thus making their rivalry worthy of a second installment.
Even though Donaire (42-6 record with 28 knockouts) lost via unanimous decision, he gave the 28-year-old Inoue a tough time by damaging the Japanese’s face with a fractured orbital bone on the right eye and broken nose.
“You have to look at the first fight and that was a tremendous fight, so we’re hoping the next one will also be as good or even better,” Arum said. “It’s going to be exactly in April in Japan and I think it’s going to be a blockbuster fight. It’s going to be a big, big fight.”
Donaire expressed his desire to face anybody including a huge rematch with Inoue.
“I’m ready to fight Naoya Inoue in a rematch because he has the belts and that’s my goal—to collect all the belts,” Donaire said, referring to Inoue’s International Boxing Federation and World Boxing Association bantamweight titles. “Just bring it, I’m ready.”
While training as a fighter, Donaire also serves as a co-head trainer for ex-world champion Jessie Vargas of the US.
Vargas, who is running for congress in Nevada’s fourth US congressional district, lost to retired eight-division world champion Manny Pacquiao in November 2016 via unanimous decision.