The original plan from Top Rank on March 15th (in the Philippines, 14th out here in the States) was for IBF flyweight champion Nonito Donaire to move up and challenge Fernando Montiel for his WBO jr. bantameight title as the headlining bout on Showtime.
But, things done changed, as they say.
“Here’s what’s going to happen,” explained Arum on Thursday afternoon to Maxboxing. “It’s a whole complicated thing, Gerry Penalosa (the WBO bantamweight titlist) is indicating that he doesn’t want to make the weight and he wants to fight Juan Manuel Lopez (the WBO 122-pound belt-holder), which we’re trying to arrange out of the Philippines. So that’s what everybody?s working on.”
Lopez is scheduled to appear on a ‘Boxing After Dark’ telecast on HBO in late April, alongside WBO featherweight champion Steven Luevano.
“Once that happens, then Fernando Montiel (the WBO jr. bantamweight champion) is going to move up in weight and he’s going to fight Eric Morel (ranked number one at bantamweight by the WBO) for that title. And then Donaire is going to move up in weight and he’s going to fight Jose ‘Carita’ Lopez for the ’15 pound title and then the other fight stays (Ulises Solis-Brian Viloria, for the IBF 108-pound strap).
“That’s the plan. If it all happens, it’ll be a miracle, but that’s the plan.”
FRIDAY FLURRIES
Bernabe Concepcion is being mentioned as a possible opponent for Luevano in April….With Joe Greene being KO’d by kidney stones, there’s a very good chance that the January 17th broadcast on HBO will feature just one fight (Andre Berto-Luis Collazo) and a bout between WBC jr. middleweight titlist Sergio Martinez and WBA belt-holder Daniel Santos could be added to the February 14th HBO broadcast that already features Alfredo Angulo-Ricardo Mayorga and Nate Campbell-Ali Funeka…I’ve been told that the March 14th broadcast on HBO featuring the rematch between Chad Dawson and Antonio Tarver will have just one live bout….Names being considered for rising jr. middleweight James Kirkland include Joel Julio and Danny Perez for March 7th on HBO’s ‘Boxing After Dark’….Arum said that they are working on putting the bout between IBF welterweight titlist Joshua Clottey and mandatory challenger Kermit Cintron underneath Miguel Cotto’s appearance at Madison Square Garden on February 21st. It says here that Clottey-Cintron is the best fight of that night….Say it ain’t so, John Smoltz, no longer an Atlanta Brave?….So it should’ve been Adam ‘Hit Man’ Jones?….And finally, congratulations to the Utah Utes for winning the Maxboxing National Championship. Your trophy is being mailed out to you as we speak….
