SUPPOSEDLY to be held this weekend, the fight between Nonito “The Filipino Flash” Donaire Jr. and Mexican Alexandro Santiago for the vacant World Boxing Council bantamweight title has been rescheduled to July 29 (July 30 early morning in Manila) at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
The fight is bound to gain greater prominence since it will now be in the undercard of the highly-anticipated world welterweight unification match between Errol Spence Jr. and Terrence Crawford, boxing writer Ryan Songalia wrote on the ringtv.com in a story that was posted yesterday.
“The fight was moved to fill out the pay-per-view portion of the show after Viktor Faust was forced to withdraw from his fight against Gurgen Hovhannisyan due to a back injury,” the report said.
“I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to become a world champion once again on an already historic night for boxing,” Donaire was quoted as saying after learning of the development.
“I’m thankful to my team for this opportunity and I’m going to do everything I can to make the most of it. We’re working really hard on defense and being as fast as possible. It’s been an amazing camp and I can’t wait to get in the ring,” added the Pinoy fighter who, at 40, is bidding to become the oldest world bantamweight champion anew.
Sporting a record of 42 wins, 28 by knockout, against seven losses, the “Filipino Flash” will return to the ring more than a year since losing a title unification clash with Japanese Naoya “Monster” Inoue, who knocked him out in the second round on June 7, 2022 at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.
He will be up against a 27-year-old scrapper, who has a record of 27 wins (14 KOs), three draws and five losses, from the Mexican boxing hotbed of Tijuana.
It will be the second world title crack for Santiago, who lost a controversial split decision to then Filipino International Boxing Federation junior bantamweight king Jerwin Ancajas in September 2018 at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California.
“I have been waiting five years to get another world title opportunity, so another two weeks is nothing,” said Santiago. “I’m still focused and working hard. The objective and target is still the same.
“I’m very fortunate and would like to thank my team for this great opportunity to be part of such an amazing event on July 29.”
