WBSS Bantamweght (1/4 Final): Ryan Burnett vs. Nonito Donaire - 3 November 2018

[Ruthless-RKO]

Details of Ryan Burnett‘s opening World Boxing Super Series bout are due to be announced this week – and it may not be the news that Irish fight fans were hoping for.

The WBA bantamweight champion takes on former four-weight champ Nonito Donaire [38(24)-5(1)] in the quarter-finals of the big-money knockout tournament and, initially, it looked as though Burnett would be facing the Filipino in his home city of Belfast.

However, it now looks like Burnett [19(9)-0] will fight Donaire in Glasgow on November 3rd.

While nothing is yet confirmed, Irish-Boxing.com are led to believe that the world title fight will take place overseas.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Our reasoning is as follows:

– This season of the World Boxing Super Series features three weights – meaning twelve separate quarter-final bouts. Unlike in Season One which featured just two weights, these match-ups will be ran as double headers, meaning six quarter-final fight nights as opposed to the eight there were last year.

– These six fight nights look set to be ran consecutively from the first weekend of October.

– A number of fight nights have already been confirmed or are already widely reported.

Bantamweight favourite Naoya Inoue will fight Juan Carlos Payano in Yokohama, Japan on Sunday October 7th alongside the light welterweight quarter-final between Kiril Relikh and Eduard Troyanovsky.
Saturday October 13th will then see WBO bantamweight champion Zolani Tete put his belt on the line versus Russian amateur star Misha Aloyan in Yekaterinburg, Russia alongside a cruiser quarter between Ruslan Fayfer and Andrew Tabiti.
New Orleans, USA, will play host to Regis Prograis v Terry Flanagan on Saturday October 27th.
Additionally, the Yunier Dorticos v Mateusz Masternak and Krzysztof Glowacki v Maksim Vlasov have been rumoured for October 20th and November 10th respectively.

[Ruthless-RKO]

[Andrew]

Abysmal fight this. I won't watch.

Will be really sad to see Donaire at this weight looking poor against someone he would probably have wiped out in his prime.

I would rather have a fringe contender in than a faded name moving down two weight classes.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Abysmal fight this. I won't watch.

Will be really sad to see Donaire at this weight looking poor against someone he would probably have wiped out in his prime.

I would rather have a fringe contender in than a faded name moving down two weight classes.

I kidna agree.. He might perform well.. Who knows.

Who promotes Donaire? Is it Ringstar?

Donaire probably see's it as a last chance to earn big money.. But how effective he will be at Bantamweight now. Who knows.

[Stuarty]

Interesting fight. Eager to see how Donaire makes the weight and how he looks.

[KiwiRider]

My vote for Ryan by decision seems to be the massive majority vote.
Age, making weight and going the distance all point (IMO) to Burnett eaking out a points win by coming on strong after the first 4-5 rounds.
Donaire is certainly an experienced campaigner, but not these days. Still not an easy night for Ryan though! And I will be watching because if he wins, it will be good to know how he does for future reference in the semi finals.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Will be a good and tough test for Burnett. Donaire’s experience will be good for Burnett.

[ElJefe]

Thought Donaire looked relatively good against Frampton. About as well as a 35 year old above his best weight and past his prime can look when in with a much younger, fresher, genuinely world class fighter. I don't think Burnett can match what Frampton will bring in terms of ability, strength, power, experience etc. But Donaire dropping 8 pounds at this stage of his career is almost certainly a recipe for disaster.

[brilo33]

fornicate that, burnett v frampton windsor park 12 th july , gwan ryan

[Oiky]

Donaire was some fighter a few year back still, he has a lot of exp on his side, but he's very faded now, Burnett Decision

[Boxing Prospect]

Burnett appears to have no stopping power... But Donaire is dropping so much weight...

[jamamb]

thought taylor was tommy coyle for a moment on that poster there

[Ruthless-RKO]

Nonito Donaire rumoured to be OUT of Ryan Burnett WBSS fight

Ryan Burnett [19(9)-0] may face a late change of opponent ahead of his World Boxing Super Series quarter-final next week.

The Belfast bantamweight is due to defend his WBA belt versus Filipino legend Nonito Donaire [38(24)-5(1)] in Glasgow on Saturday November 3rd.

However, rumour is abound that four-weight Donaire is set to pull out of the clash at the SSE Hydro.

Irish-Boxing.com have been aware of whispers regarding the withdrawal of Donaire over the past 48 hours and the rumours have become public on social media this afternoon.

In this time there have been numerous promotional posts from the WBSS which have included Donaire.

If the 35-year-old, who was stepping down two weight divisions for the fight, is indeed out then Burnett will face first reserve Paul Butler.

Liverpool’s Butler [26(14)-2(1)] is a former WBO bantamweight champion and a challenger for the IBF belts at 115lbs and 118lbs – his most recent fight being a dominant defeat to Puerto Rican Manny Rodriguez.

The 29-year-old was in camp preparing for a fight on the undercard next week versus former European champion Karim Guerfi. The Frenchman, managed by Assassin Boxing, would become first reserve if Butler is bumped into the tournament proper.

Burnett is the first seed for the eight-man single-elimination tournament and chose Donaire at the Draft Gala in Moscow during the summer.

The South East Asian is a popular figure among Irish fight fans following his fight with Belfast featherweight Carl Frampton back in April.

[ElJefe]

Shame. But maybe a blessing in disguise. Last thing anyone wants to see is Donaire seriously draining himself and putting himself in danger of lasting damage.

[jamamb]

so i wonder if nonito couldnt do the weight?

and oh please not paul butler. like okay, ya hes the reserve and on late notice so its okay, but enough of him vs top guys. look at how badly out of his depth he was vs manny and compare that to how well moloney did. look at how much better 4-0 aloyan did vs tete then butler did

butler just doesnt have it at that level, he literally shat himself vs rodriguez

[Wee Tommy]

I’ve got ringside for this and am a bit gutted Donaire is off. I don’t think he’d have won but he had more chance than butler

[Ruthless-RKO]

I’ve got ringside for this and am a bit gutted Donaire is off. I don’t think he’d have won but he had more chance than butler

Has it been confirmed?

[KiwiRider]

so i wonder if nonito couldnt do the weight?

and oh please not paul butler. like okay, ya hes the reserve and on late notice so its okay, but enough of him vs top guys. look at how badly out of his depth he was vs manny and compare that to how well moloney did. look at how much better 4-0 aloyan did vs tete then butler did

butler just doesnt have it at that level, he literally shat himself vs rodriguez

Yeah, well, Burnett needs to keep busy. Even if it means battering Butler about for 5-6 rounds, it's better than sitting it out.
Your right about Butler Vs Rodriguez, talk about drowning not waving
Way out of his depth. At least the card is good enough to allow this hiccup.

[PredatorHayds]

Put Guerfi in the tourney instead of Butler.
Butler hasn’t been the same fighter since he left Arnie.
Arnie brought the best out of him.

[Ruthless-RKO]

NOT OUT – Nonito Donaire on course to face Ryan Burnett - Source: Irish-Boxing

Nonito Donaire [38(24)-5(1)] is not out of the running yet.

The Filipino four-weight world champion is down to face Ireland’s WBA bantamweight champ Ryan Burnett [19(9)-0] in the quarter-finals of the World Boxing Super Series next weekend in Glasgow but there have been heavy rumours that he is set to pull out from the big-money knockout competition.

First reserve Paul Butler [26(14)-2(1)] has been publicised in recent days but, despite doubts, Donaire is still very much in the fight at the SSE Hydro.
ADVERTISEMENT

Moving down two weight divisions and fighting at 118lbs for the first time in seven years, questions had been raised about Donaire’s ability to make the weight and this formed the crux of the persistent rumours over the past week regarding a potential pull-out of the Pinoy.

However, Donaire has flown from Los Angeles to Glasgow for the final week of his camp and, at present, remains in the main event.

Now in Scotland, the 35-year-old trained last night at Renfrewshire Boxing Club (pictured).

Spoke with Nonito Donaire earlier, he’s now in Glasgow, Scotland. He faces Ryan Burnett next Sat night in the WBSS 118-pd tourney #boxing

— Steve AmeriKim (@steveucnlive) October 26, 2018

‘The Filipino Flash’ Donaire still does have to make weight on Friday and Butler, who is down to box Frenchman Yoan Boyeaux on the undercard, is on standby ready to jump in.

Talk from some suggest that the veteran is indeed tight at the weight, while others suggest the rumours perhaps stem from Donaire’s own team as an attempt to unsettle Burnett.

The Belfast 26-year-old is finishing off his camp in London with coach Adam Booth ahead of his second WBA title defence and fourth world title fight.

The winner of next week’s bout – which is a co-headliner with Josh Taylor’s WBSS light welter quarter-final versus Ryan Martin – will progress to the semi-finals and a unification with WBO champion Zolani Tete.

[handsofstone]

This for me seems pretty nailed on to be a carbon copy of the Frampton/Donaire with Burnett being too fresh and accurate for Donaire and controlling things comfortably, I'm still not convinced Donaire makes Bantamweight ad if he does I cant see him even being as effective as he was in the Frampton fight, though he lost wide, he had moments, hurt Frampton a couple of times and had success on the inside with uppercuts

Burnett coming off the dominant win over Parejo, he broke his hand early in that fight but still controlled things, never panicked or allowed Parejo to make a go of it, I like Burnett there's a maturity and control about his boxing, never gets flustered and is equally effective leading or countering, it can be a bit boring and one sided to watch but there's no doubt he has a class about him

I cant see Donaire winning this, it should be a comfortable night for Burnett, i'd like to see him go for the stoppage later on but I'm sure he'll be content to just win every round

[Stuarty]

Donaire must be in for Sat. He's training in my old gym. Colin Bellshaws gym in Johnstone. My mates got an office in there and he's gonna let me know when he's in and I'm gonna 'visit my mates office' so I can engineer a meet with him

[Boxing Prospect]

... Boyeaux would be a better replacement than Butler imo, he would at least pose some questions of Burnett with the unique dimensions

[handsofstone]

Donaire must be in for Sat. He's training in my old gym. Colin Bellshaws gym in Johnstone. My mates got an office in there and he's gonna let me know when he's in and I'm gonna 'visit my mates office' so I can engineer a meet with him

That's quality mate