Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum has already marked the date 19 June as a red-letter day for diehard boxing fans.
On that day in a Las Vegas (LV) venue to be determined soon, Naoya Inoue of Japan, holder of two world bantamweight crowns, makes a mandatory defense against Filipino Michael “Hot and Spicy” Dasmariñas.
Inoue, regarded as one of the best fighters in the world pound-for-pound, will be seeing action for the first time since mauling Australian Jason Moloney during Halloween of 2020.
“Yes, 19 June in LV,” Arum told Daily Tribune about whether Inoue’s obligatory defense against Dasmariñas is pushing through.
Dasmariñas has been waiting for his shot at Inoue for over a year now and Arum simply wants to fulfill that obligation so his prized Japanese puncher gets rid of what appears to be a pesky pest.
Nicknamed “Monster,” Inoue, 27, is undefeated in 20 fights with 17 knockouts while Dasmariñas sports a credible 30-2-1 mark with 20 knockouts.
Still, there is a huge difference when it comes to experience between the two.
Inoue has been knocking the best 118-pounders left and right, his list of victims stuffed with marquee names, including Nonito Donaire, who nearly beat him in their epic 2019 slugfest.
Dasmariñas, a 28-year-old southpaw, knows he would be the huge underdog against Inoue but the Bicol-born fighter believes he has what it takes to mess up Inoue and Arum’s plans.
