The WBO bantamweight title was vacated by Rigondeaux when the Cuban was stripped of the title by the sanctioning body after months of inactivity. The winner of the Donaire-Juarez fight will claim the title.
Donaire was poised to face WBA Super Bantamweight Champion Scott Quigg of England but negotiations between Donaire’s promoter Bob Arum and Quigg’s promoter fail to gain traction.
Donaire is recovering from his devastating loss to Nicholas Walters of Jamaica last year via TKO in the sixth round at the StubHub Center in Carson, California, where he lost his WBA Super featherweight title. Read more.
Since his loss to Walters, Donaire has fought twice winning via TKO in both fights. The first was against William Prado of Brazil which ended in a TKO in round 2. It was followed by another TKO win, also in round 2 against Anthony Settoul of France.
Before the WBO verdict on Rigondeaux’s title, Donaire’s promoter Bob Arum was working on an interim title fight between Donaire and Juarez and was looking at a possible HBO event for the title fight.
“We’d like to do it for the interim title,” Arum said. “If we can land a date on HBO, Donaire will fight in America. If not we’ll have him fight in Philippines or China,” he added. Read more:
With the recent developments related to the WBO decision, Arum is expected to make some changes on the venue of the fight and how it will be presented as there are reports the bout will possibly land in the undercard of Felix Verdejo in Puerto Rico.
Donaire may not be comfortable fighting in the undercard of stablemate Verdejo as he has already been a popular main event attraction.
