Arum: HBO wants to do Donaire-Arce in the fall if they win their next fights

By Boxing News - 06/08/2012 - Comments

Image: Arum: HBO wants to do Donaire-Arce in the fall if they win their next fightsBy Dan Ambrose: Top Rank promoter Bob Arum will be looking to match WBO super bantamweight champion Nonito Donaire and Jorge Arce together in the fall of this year if they can get past their next opponents. Arum says that HBO is on board with it and wants to televise an Arce-Donaire fight.

Arum said to RingTV “If Arce looks good, and Donaire beats [Jeffrey] Mathebula, then HBO wants to do that fight in the fall. Whenever they’re ready, October, November.”

While I wouldn’t mind seeing Donaire and Arce fight if there was no other options available, it’s not the fight that I really want to see right now. I don’t think Arce is the best fighter at super bantamweight, and I don’t feel that Donaire is the best either. I’d much prefer to see Donaire OR Arce face WBA World super bantamweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux (9-0, 7 KO’s) in the fall then seeing the two of them fight each other.

I wouldn’t mind seeing them fight if it’s elimination bracket to face the best fighter in the super bantamweight division, but if this is all Arum’s got, then I’ll pass on that. I don’t want to pay to see two fighters avoiding Rigondeaux. I don’t think Donaire has any intention of facing Rigondeaux after he faces Mathebula and Arce, so it’s not appealing to see him take one winnable fight after another.

The 32-year-old Arce will be fighting Jesus Rojas on Saturday night on the undercard of the Manny Pacquiao vs. Timothy Bradley fight at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. Arce is expected to easily win tomorrow night, as Rojas is just someone beatable being brought in for him to get a win over to keep him busy until the Donaire fight.

Donaire will be fighting IBF super bantamweight champion Jeffrey Mathebula on July 7th at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California. Mathebula is an other fighter without much power that’s been well scouted and isn’t much of a threat to Donaire.



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