Nonito Donaire Jr., will fight Abner Mares in a super bantamweight unification title bout only if the Mexican’s promotional and television handlers agree to promoter Bob Arum’s terms.
Otherwise, the Top Rank boss will pull out one opponent from his stable—Cuban Guillermo Rigondeaux—to challenge Donaire, the WBO champion. Mares is the WBC titlist.
Arum, who is handling Donaire’s quest for superstardom, told boxingscene.com that for the super bantamweight mega fight to happen, Golden Boy Promotions can come to him and quote a price tag and “I’m happy to pay it.”
“Let him (GBP chief Richard) Schaefer come to me with a sum of money. What do they want. I’m happy to pay it. Don’t you think I know that’s a fight people want to see,” Arum was quoted by writer Robert Morales recently.
Arum wants Top Rank to run the whole show, including beaming the fight live on HBO and not Showtime which carries Mares’ fights. HBO carried the last six fights of Donaire, including all four last year which cemented his claim as 2012 Fighter of the Year.
Based on their records, Donaire (31-1-0 with 20 KOs) and Mares (25-0-1 with 13 KOs) will be a good match. The WBA champ Rigondeaux holds a 11-0-0 record with 8 KOs)