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Nonito Donaire is prepared to stand his ground for as long as it takes to secure his shot at a fourth bantamweight title reign.
The former four-division champion refuses to abandon his current place in line within the WBC 118-pound rankings, especially with the title now available. Donaire was identified as the number-two contender, one place behind mandatory challenger Jason Moloney during the annual WBC convention last November in Acapulco, Mexico.
It was agreed at the time that the two would wait out the Naoya Inoue-Paul Butler undisputed lineal/WBA/WBC/IBF/WBO bantamweight championship, as it was speculated that Inoue—who scored an eleventh-round knockout on December 13 in Tokyo to fully unify the division—would subsequently vacate all the titles. That turned out to be the case, which would leave Moloney-Donaire as a vacant title fight.
More than two months after the convention, Donaire is still waiting for his phone to ring. The 40-year-old Fil-Am superstar will continue to wait, whether it’s for a call from Moloney or from the next challenger in line since he has no plans to go elsewhere.
“I want to be very, very, very, very clear. As it stands today, with Inoue vacating the titles, I am not relinquishing my position in the WBC to fight Jason Moloney,” Donaire confirmed during his ‘Beyond the Ring With Nonito and Rachel’ podcast hosted by the boxer and his wife/manager Rachel. “I know they said that they have tried to talk about them negotiating with me.
“There was no negotiation. There was nothing when Inoue still had the belt.”
As previously reported by BoxingScene.com, Inoue (26-0, 23KOs) formally abdicated the throne on January 13. The announcement came one month to the day of the historic feat. The victory over England’s Butler saw Inoue win the WBO bantamweight title and defend his lineal, WBA, WBC and IBF belts, while becoming the first Asian undisputed champion in the multi-belt era.
Donaire (42-7, 28KOs)—a former champ at flyweight, bantamweight, junior featherweight and featherweight—previously owned two of the titles that landed in the possession of Inoue.
The two met in the World Boxing Super Series bantamweight tournament final, where Inoue won a twelve-round decision to defend his IBF title and win Donaire’s WBA ‘Super’ belt in their November 2019 thriller. Donaire would go on to claim the WBC title in a May 2019 fourth-round knockout of Nordine Oubaali, breaking his own record as the oldest boxer ever to win a bantamweight title.
One successful defense followed before securing a lucrative rematch with Inoue last June 7 at Saitama (Japan) Super Arena—the site of their epic first encounter. Their sequel was not nearly as competitive, as Inoue knocked out Donaire in the second round of their lineal/WBA/WBC/IBF unification clash.
Despite the defeat, Donaire was able to land a favorable position in the WBC rankings. He could only climb as high as two, as Australia’s Moloney (25-2, 19KOs)—who suffered a seventh-round knockout loss to Inoue in an October 2020 title challenge—has won four in a row.
The most recent solidified his place as the leading WBC contender when he soundly outpointed Thailand’s Nawaphon Sor Rungvisai over twelve rounds in their title eliminator last October 16 in Melbourne, Australia.
Concers arose over whether the two sides could actually reach an accord. Moloney is promoted by Bob Arum’s Top Rank, while Donaire is proudly represented by longtime promoter Richard Schaefer, first through his RingStar Promotions before following him to Probellum upon its late 2021 launch.
Arum has openly insisted that Probelum is tied to accused Irish crimelord Daniel Kinahan, who was sanctioned by the U.S. Department of Treasury. Probellum brass—and Schaefer, specifically—vehemently denied the allegations, though the Dubai-based promotional company has since lost TV deals in the U.S. and U.K.
Top Rank has all but ceased conducting business with the company, save for select bouts either already scheduled (Janibek Alimkhanuly-Danny Dignum last May 21) or where the fights were negotiated without their direct involvement (Inoue-Donaire II and Inoue-Butler; Top Rank is the U.S. promoter for Inoue). Arum and Schaefer also have a longstanding love-hate relationship, though largely one way; Schaefer has genuinely tried to do business with all promoters for the sake of putting his fighters first, though has not had luck in advancing a Moloney-Donaire fight.
Team Donaire sensed that Top Rank would angle to sidestep the former four-division champ and have Moloney head straight to the title. Don Majeski took a brief break from his determined campaign to rebrand the WBC’s USNBC regional title to lobby on behalf of Top Rank for Moloney to be named champion in the event that Inoue vacated, while allowing for the same 50/50 purse split for a subsequently ordered Moloney-Donaire title fight.
The idea was soundly—and rightly—objected by Schaefer and Donaire on the spot.
“On day one, we tried to petition for number one,” Donaire recalled of his time spent at the convention. “It was agreed upon by Team Moloney and Team Doniare that we would fight for the vacant title when Inoue vacated. We shook hands, we agreed. It was very amicable. I appreciated that. On day two, I took their word for it. We don’t need to go to the mandatory. I’m glad and grateful that Rachel wanted to go out there and check it out.
“I’m glad we did. They were trying to become a champion without fighting for the title. What do people call that? E-mail champions. That’s when the drama came out. We agreed that we were going to fight for the title and that wasn’t something that was questioned. For them to go behind our backs to (attempt to) get the title without us fighting, put us in a very different position.”
The situation clearly requires intervention, namely for the WBC to make a ruling. Once a fight is ordered between the top two contenders, neither side can enter talks for any other fight without relinquishing their ranking.
It is the reason for Donaire’s hardline stance, to ensure that Top Rank does not attempt to reach below him in the WBC rankings in efforts to manipulate the sanctioning body into ordering any other fight. That places the onus on Team Moloney to either strike a deal with Donaire’s side, or give up the number-one ranking.
Moloney has a safety net, as he is also the number-one contender in the WBO bantamweight rankings and could just as easily fight for that vacant title. The current rankings would have Moloney face Philippines’ Reymart Gaballo—whom Donaire knocked out in the fourth round of a December 2021 WBC title defense.
Ironically, such a move would leave Donaire to next face Sor Rungvisai who hasn’t fought since his loss to Moloney.
For now, the hope is to proceed with the plan they’ve had in place for the past two months.
“So now, where it stands with Inoue vacating—the belt is vacant, Jason Moloney and Team Moloney, we are open,” insisted Donaire. “You know our numbers and Richard (Schaefer) as well, to make this happen. Here we are, Team Donaire versus Team Moloney.
“Let’s go for this on whatever date, let’s negotiate.”
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox