Donaire challenge vs WBC champ Oubaali set for December

FILE – Nonito Donaire (bottom) and Jessie Magdaleno both celebrate at the end of their WBO junior featherweight championship fight at the Thomas & Mack Center on November 5, 2016 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Ethan Miller/Getty Images/AFP

MANILA, Philippines—Nonito Donaire could get another belt around his waist after his loss to pound-for-pound rising star Naoya Inoue in November 2019.

The Filipino legend is set to take on WBC World bantamweight champion Nordine Oubaali on the December 12 edition of Showtime Championship Boxing  tentatively scheduled to air from a closed-door Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville as a precaution amid the COVID-19 pandemic, as per BoxingScene.com.

Donaire’s challenge for Oubaali’s title was initially scheduled between March and June but the pandemic forced the organizers to schedule the bout in December.

Interestingly, Donaire (40-6, 26 knockouts) and Oubaali’s (17-0, 12 KOs) first interaction with each other was on Nov. 7, 2019 when they were on crucial parts of their respective careers.

Donaire, who was considered as an aging veteran, put on a display against Naoya Inoue, the Ring Magazine no. 3 pound-for-pound fighter, but lost via unanimous decision.

Inoue eventually walked away with The Ring, IBF, and WBA World bantamweight titles but Donaire evidently left an impression that he’s still one of the best in the division.

Oubaali, meanwhile, defended the WBC title in the 118-pound division when he beat Takuma Inoue, Naoya’s younger brother, via unanimous decision.

It was after that fight card that WBC, through its Board of Governors, voted unanimously to elect Donaire as the mandatory challenger for Oubaali’s green strap.

Donaire has been a champion in four weight classes, including two separate stints in the bantamweight division, and his last championship was the WBA’s 118-lb title that he won after a knockout of Stephon Young in April 2019.