Donaire-Vetyeka, Avalos-Ishimoto in Play For May 31

By Ryan Burton

BoxingScene.com has been advised by multiple sources that WBA "super" featherweight champion Simpiwe Vetyeka will defend his title against Nonito Donaire in Macau on May 31st.  The date originally being looked at was May 10th but the fight will now take place on the same date as the rematch between Carl Froch and George Groves.

Top Rank's previous cards in Macau have been aired on HBO2 so it will be interesting to see if this fight is broadcast on HBO's main channel since HBO decided to pick up the Froch-Groves rematch as reported by BoxingScene.com's David Greisman earlier today.  Donaire is by the far the biggest star to fight in Macau on a non pay-per-view card so it seems likely that the premium cable network would pick up the fight.   Manny Pacquiao defeated Brandon Rios this past November in a pay-per-view fight that was distributed by HBO.

BoxingScene.com has also confirmed that an IBF eliminator between Chris Avalos and Yasutaka Ishimoto will take place on the card. The winner will become the mandatory challenger of the winner of the Kiko Martinez-Hozumi Hasegawa fight that takes place in Japan on April 23rd. Martinez won the title last August when he stopped Jhonathan Romero.

Featherweight contender Alejandro Perez will likely get a crack at Nicholas Walters WBA "regular" featherweight title on the card as well but he first must get past an opponent to be determined on March 29th in a fight televised on UniMas.

Former two-division champion Brian Viloria will likely have a meaningful fight in Macau but he is first scheduled to take a tune up on the aforementioned March 29th UniMas card.