DONAIRE TARGETS RIGONDEAUX REMATCH; WILLING TO TAKE ON JESSIE MAGDALENO
By Dong Secuya
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 17 Apr 2016
CEBU CITY ? Five-division world champion Nonito 'The Filipino Flash' Donaire bared that his No. 1 target is a rematch with Cuban former world champion Guillermo Rigondeaux should he win his title defense against Zsolt Bedak of Hungary this coming Saturday at the Cebu City Sports Center here.
?Yes, we are looking for a rematch with Ringondeaux, he is our number one target,? Donaire told the Cebu media Saturday afternoon upon his arrival at the boxing mecca of the Philippines. Donaire lost to Rigondeaux during their WBO/WBA super bantamweight unification title bout on April 13, 2013 in New York. After the loss, Donaire climbed to featherweight where he captured the WBA world title belt against Simpiwe Vetyeka of South Africa on May 31, 2014 in Macau which Donaire later lost to Nicholas Walters on Oct. 18, 2014 in Carson, California.
The knockout loss to Walters has changed Donaire's trajectory. ?I realized that 126 [featherweight] is too big for me,? Donaire, who won world titles in the flyweight, super flyweight, bantamweight, super bantamweight and featherweight divisions, said. ?Against Walters, I climbed the ring at 129 lbs while Walters was at 147 lbs so my punches didn't have much effect on Walters. This is the ideal weight for me [122 lbs] and I'm going to stay in this division,? Donaire said.
?If the higher weights want to fight me, let's fight in my division at catchweight,? Donaire, who upon his return to the super bantamweight reclaimed his WBO title by defeating Cesar Juarez of Mexico in a barn burner of a fight in Puerto Rico on Dec. 11, 2015, added.
Informed that his fellow Las Vegas resident Jessie Magdaleno has been calling him out and has now become the mandatory challenger of his title, Donaire said, ?Yes, he's been saying he wants to fight me but when we see each other, he doesn't look at me in my eyes. If he is the mandatory, I willing to fight him.?
Magdaleno (23-0-0, 17KO) won his last fight against Rey Perez of the Philippines in Phoenix last Feb. 20 and, like Donaire, is also under the Top Rank promotional banner. Magdaleno's manager, Frank Espinoza, has been quoted as saying that after Donaire wins over Bedak on Saturday, which he expected, ?I'll call Top Rank and see if we could get this fight [Donaire-Magdaleno] moving.?
Rigondeaux meanwhile appears to be in a limbo at the moment as he has not fought since defeating Drian Francisco of the Philippines on Nov. 21, 2015, his only fight for the entire year. He had been stripped of his WBO and WBA titles for inactivity and his last scheduled fight against Jazza Dickens on March 12, 2016 in the United Kingdom didn't push through after 'The Jackal' failed to get his visa to enter Great Britain.
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