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| Donaire in his fight with Jeffrey Mathebula on July 7th. |
The fight that Top Rank have been trying to make for over a year is now finally looking like it's going to happen. According to reports, a showdown between Nonito Donaire and Jorge Arce is "ninety percent" finalized and is looking set to take place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles in October.
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| Mexican warrior Jorge Arce. |
Donaire fought last Saturday (July 7th) when he beat Jeffrey Mathebula by unanimous decision in California. Donaire now holds the WBO and IBF titles at 122lb and after his fight with Mathebula, he stated that he wanted to unify at least one more title. He won't be able to do this if he fights Arce as the Mexican does not hold any world titles at this current time. It looked as though we were going to see Donaire fight Toshiaki Nishioka but Top Rank seem to prefer this fight a lot more. Probably because of the fact that Arce will bring a lot more fans that Nishioka.
Another reason is that Arce (60-6-2, 46 KO's) is 32-years old and has the fighting style that will take a negative affect on you as you get older. So Top Rank probably feel that they should take what could be their final chance to make a big-money fight involving Jorge Arce, and this is the perfect opportunity. Arce and Donaire both bring very big fanbases so it won't be hard to sell tickets and promote the fight, and Arce has the typical style that is tailor-made for Donaire but he will bring excitement and put on a show.
Donaire could have looked for a fight with the champions such as Nishioka, Abner Mares and Guillermo Rigondeaux but these men are going to be around for at least another few years and Arce might not. Donaire has a lot of time ahead of him and if he performs to the best of his potential, he could easily unify his titles in a big fight next year.
