Addition By Subtraction at Bantamweight?

It’s an old adage. The shortest point between two spots is a straight line.

The straight line was in place.

COVID made a lot of things crooked.

In April 2020, fresh off winning the World Boxing Super Series, unified WBA/IBF bantamweight titlist Naoya Inoue (20-0, 17 KO) was slated to face WBO titlist John Riel Casimero (30-4, 21 KO). Both explosive punchers, it looked like a treat. The winner would have logically been lined up to be part of the seeming four-belt-a-palooza going on all around the scale with the remaining bantamweight with a major sanctioning body title, WBC titlist Nordine Oubaali (17-0, 12 KO).

Many assumed Inoue would be the last man standing, cementing one of the best runs at bantamweight since, at least arguably, Carlos Zarate. It still had to get done in the ring.    

No one was fighting by the time the intended April 25 date for Inoue-Casimero arrived.  

When action resumed in the fall, both Inoue and Casimero were matched with other bantamweights. Oubaali was supposed to fight the man Inoue beat in the WBSS final, future Hall of Famer Nonito Donaire (40-6, 26 KO) but a series of events delayed their showdown until this Saturday night (Showtime, 10 PM EST).

Oubaali-Donaire was always likely, even before COVID. That it finally arrives atop another very intriguing Showtime card is only a piece of a bigger picture. 

How it endures past the cards set up through September remains to be seen but it’s impossible not to see a deft play by Showtime at bantamweight. Combined with an investment at Jr. featherweight that will soon give fans Stephen Fulton-Brandon Figueroa, Showtime has been airing much of the best action in the world in both weight classes since last fall. Oubaali-Donaire is this weekend; Casimero defends against the still-technically-reigning lineal Jr. featherweight king Guillermo Rigondeaux (20-1, 13 KO) in August. 

The biggest names not working with Showtime this year at the weights, Inoue and unified titlist Jr. featherweight titlist Muradjon Akhmadaliev, are left just sort of in limbo in terms of high profile foes.  

Inoue, after a successful destruction of Jason Moloney last fall, is stuck with a mandatory in Michael Dasmarinas (30-2-1, 20 KO). It’s not much fun for those who want to see one of the world’s best, at any weight, facing the most notable names in his class.

However, it begs the question of whether, in the short term, all of these events have fed into a more interesting landscape at bantamweight.    

Consider the possibilities this weekend sets up: if Donaire wins, he could be looking at a second unification match with Inoue after their 2019 Fight of the Year. Speaking to the PBC podcast this week, Donaire made clear he wants to see Inoue again as part of a goal to be undisputed at bantamweight before he hangs them up. 

Perhaps more interesting is what could be if Donaire and Rigondeaux both defeat their younger foes. In 2013, Rigondeaux’s unification victory over Donaire chased off an entire generation of Jr. featherweights who didn’t even bother to find out if they were any better than second best. Could 2021 see Donaire and Rigondeaux unifying belts against each other one division lower all these years later? It would be a hell of a story.

Another option is the smack talk between Inoue and Casimero, translated for the world on social media, resumes with them back at the table if Casimero defeats the Cuban maestro. The two have had some amusing exchanges outside the ring. A Casimero win in August would surely raise his profile in the US, enhance the bona fides of the three-division titlist, and convince some he is a more formidable foe for Inoue than might have been perceived in 2020. 

If Inoue beat Casimero in that scenario, his previous win over Donaire would make for a solid case for undisputed without some hardware. If Casimero upset Inoue, it could lead to the same place a win in August might just as easily with no Inoue at all. 

Could Showtime push to invest further at bantamweight in an all too rare all-Filipino unification between Casimero and Donaire? Would they pony up for Casimero-Oubaali? Would Inoue and Akhmadaliev have to look at each other or would Inoue look three pounds below at one of the Jr. bantamweight bad asses he never got the chance to square off with when he was at Jr. bantamweight? There might be more avenues to be explored that might not have been there in a world where 04/25/2020 came off without a hitch. 

Inoue, Casimero, Oubaali, or the veterans chasing the latter two, still have plenty of time to work out their issues. If this all plays out as another case of boxing islands that don’t overlap, it will be a loss. If everybody plays together, the schedule we got instead of the initial plans may ultimately prove to be the more satisfying journey.

Cliff Rold is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene, a founding member of the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board, a member of the International Boxing Research Organization, and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America.  He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com