by Ronnie Nathanielsz

Five division world champion Nonito “The Filipino Flash” Donaire has apparently decided to shun a WBC title eliminator against No.1 ranked Hugo Ruiz and instead plans to face Frenchman Anthony Settoul in a ten round super bantamweight bout in Macao on July 18 before hopefully getting a crack at WBA champion Scott Quigg of Britain should Quigg overcome Kiko Martinez also on July 18 in Manchester.

WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman told us in an email after Promociones del Pueblo won the purse bid for the Donaire-Ruiz title eliminator with a bid of $537,000 which will be split evenly among the two fighters - "I am very happy to see a good fight lined up for Nonito” and inquired from us whether we had “gotten a response from Nonito about this great opportunity to regain his WBC title.”

While we were unable to talk to Donaire who was training in a twice daily routine  with his father/trainer “Dodong” Donaire, Nonito’s wife Rachel said she didn’t think they would fight Ruiz ( even as Top Rank Promotions did not even join the purse bid where the winner would have emerged as the mandatory challenger to current champion Leo Santa Cruz who is expected to relinquish the title and move up in weight.

Top Rank has scheduled a ten round bout for Donaire (34-3, 22 KO’s) against Anthony Settoul of France who has a record of 20-3 with 8 knockouts  in a tune-up fight prior to a showdown with Quigg which was confirmed by Donaire’s manager Cameron Dunkin in a conversation with USA Today.

The classy 32 year old  Donaire is expected to have a comparatively  easy fight against Settpul, similar to his 2nd  round TKO of Brazil’s William Prado last March 28, 2015.