IT WILL be the Japanese legend, not the Mexican warrior, who gets to face the Filipino Flash.
WBO and IBF super bantamweight champ Nonito Donaire Jr., yesterday confirmed via social networking sites that he will stake both titles against Toshiaki Nishioka instead of Jorge Arce on Oct. 13 at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California.
Arce, the flashy 34-year-old Mexican, reportedly failed to reach an agreement with his guaranteed prize money with Top Rank. In a previous interview, Donaire’s manager Cameron Dunkin said that if Donaire and Arce get in the ring, the Filipino must get the bigger purse.
Both Arce and Nishioka have no current titles but either of them could provide star power in the fight which will serve as co-mainer in the Mike Alvarado-Brandon Rios tiff.
Donaire, who is on vacation in the country to film a Visayan movie, posted over Facebook and Twitter his decision to face the 36-year-old Nishioka, the former WBC super bantam champion who was at ringside in two of the Filipino’s last three matches.
But hardcore fight fans say that the bout may lack the “bad blood’’ angle that a fight with Arce could provide considering the long-standing rivalry between Filipino and Mexican fighters.
Donaire decisioned Omar Narvaez, Wilfredo Vazquez Jr., and Jeffrey Mathebula in his last three outings.
Highly respected in his home country and also regarded worldwide for being crafty and audacious on the ring, the Tokyo-based Nishioka is a southpaw who has not lost a fight in eight years and holds a 39-4-3 record with 24 knockouts.
Donaire is 29-1-0 with 18 KOs.
Experts say the 5-foot-6 ½ Nishioka is now past his prime and could not match up with the firepower of the 29-year-old Donaire who is at the peak of his career.
Nishioka wrested the WBC belt after a unanimous decision win over Rafael Marquez last October. But he has not fought since then, vacating the crown that eventually went to Abner Mares when he beat Eric Morel last April.