GIVEN the spectacular slugfest boxing fans were treated to in their first meeting in November 2019, a second serving of the Naoya Inoue-Nonito Donaire Jr. bantamweight fight is inevitable.
The global pandemic prevented the rematch from immediately taking place. Finally, after almost three years, Inoue and Donaire Jr. are locking mitts on June 7 at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan. The rematch has already been hyped as the “Drama in Saitama” and definitely has all the trimmings of another classic.
Three major belts in the bantamweight (118 lbs.) division will be on the line: Inoue’s World Boxing Association (WBA) and International Boxing Federation (IBF) titles and Donaire Jr.’s World Boxing Council (WBC) diadem. The winner will bring home all three titles and will be one belt short of becoming undisputed champion in the weight class.
Inoue confirmed the fight in his Twitter account. For the rematch, Inoue stated that he expects “a fight that goes beyond the previous match.”
The first fight was fireworks galore and the runaway pick for Fight of the Year.Donaire Jr. stood his ground against Inoue and even hurt the Japanese in the ninth round. Inoue had to fight with a fractured orbital bone but did score big in the eleventh round when he floored Donaire Jr. with a vicious body shot.
poster
By some miracle, Donaire Jr. was able to get back on his feet and finish the contest. Inoue won the decision to unify the IBF and WBA bantamweight titles, but for the first time in his career the Japanese known as “The Monster” looked human.
Donaire Jr.’s performance, while on the losing side, reinvigorated his career.
So impressed were the WBC head honchos of Donaire’s showing against Inoue that they permitted the Filipino to challenge for the WBC bantamweight crown then held by Nordine Oubaali of France.
In May 2021, Donaire Jr. returned to championship form when he scored a stunning fourth round stoppage of the then unbeaten Oubaali. At age 38, Donaire Jr. became the oldest bantamweight champion in history.
Donaire Jr.’s resurgence continued seven months later as he posted his first defense of the WBC title with a devastating fourth round knockout of countryman Reymart Gaballo. A textbook body shot from Donaire Jr. deflated Gaballo.
Before feasting on Gaballo, Donaire Jr. (42-6, 28 knockouts) was supposed to fight WBO counterpart John Riel Casimero in August 2021, but the fell through after the two boxers figured in a public spat.
For his part, Inoue’s plan to campaign in the United States hit a snag because of the pandemic.
Inoue (22-0, 19 knockouts) was supposed to take on Casimero in April 2020 in Las Vegas, but the fight was called off because of the pandemic.
Inoue returned in October 2020 and scored a devastating seventh round knockout win over Jason Moloney of Australia.
Inoue, who had inked a deal with Top Rank in 2019, was supposed to figure in more fights in the United States but ended up getting stuck in his homeland after Japan closed its borders due to the Covid-19 surge.
Last year, Inoue scored two knockout victories over lesser-known challengers Aran Dipaen and Filipino Michael Dasmariñas. The Japanese briefly talked about moving up in weight but this was set aside when negotiations for a rematch with Donaire Jr. were revived.
Make no mistake, Inoue remains the favorite to prevail over Donaire Jr. in a rematch. Inoue is younger and owns immense punching power.
Donaire Jr., however, has a psychological edge considering that he is thus far the only boxer who came close to beating Inoue. When they meet again, Inoue will definitely have this in mind, too.
You have to give credit to Donaire Jr. as he could have simply chosen to defend his WBC title against lesser-known foes for easy money. Instead, he opted to pursue the rematch with Inoue in his bid to become undisputed champion.
Donaire Jr. may already be 39 years old, but the stoppage wins over Oubaali and Gaballo show that he still has plenty of competitive juice left in his tank.
As the boxing world awaits the Inoue-Donaire Jr. rematch, Casimero’s April 22 defense of his WBO title will be very crucial.
The winner of the Inoue-Donaire Jr. fight will be one title short of becoming undisputed champ and here’s where Casimero comes in. If Casimero successfully defends his WBO title against Butler, he will hold the remaining piece to the undisputed championship. The winner of the Inoue-Donaire Jr. fight will have to get past Casimero if he wants to be crowned undisputed champion.
