Donaire, Magdaleno Battle Will Bring Fireworks To Pacquiao-Vargas

By Francisco Salazar

Nonito Donaire will defend his WBO junior featherweight title against unbeaten Jessie Magdaleno on November 5, Frank Espinoza confirmed to BoxingScene.com. Espinoza manages Magdaleno.

The 12 round bout will take place at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nev. The bout will precede the welterweight showdown between Manny Pacquiao and WBO welterweight titleholder Jessie Vargas.

Both fights will be broadcast live through Top Rank (9 p.m. ET/ 6 p.m. PT), which promotes both fighters.

Donaire (37-3, 24 KOs) will be defending his WBO title for the second time on November 5. In his last bout on April 23, Donaire stopped Zsolt Bedak in the third round in Cebu City, The Philippines.

The 33-year-old won the WBO title in thrilling fashion on December 11, when he won a hard-fought 12 round unanimous decision over Cesar Juarez in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Donaire has won his last four fights since his sixth round loss to hard-hitting Nicholas Walters in October of 2014. Donaire challenged Walters for the WBA featherweight world title belt, eventually realizing it was more advantageous for him to fight at 122 pounds.

Donaire will be facing Magdaleno, who has been the longtime mandatory challenger for the WBO title.

Magdaleno (23-0, 17 KOs) has not faced the opposition Donaire has faced, but he is unbeaten and those in boxing believe his skill-set could give Donaire problems when they square off on November 5.

In his last outing on February 20, Magdaleno knocked out Rey Perez in the seventh round in Phoenix, Arizona.

Magdaleno will have a home field advantage of sorts as he resides in the Las Vegas area. The 24-year-old is the younger brother of two-time world title challenger Diego Magdaleno.

The fight will be officially announced at a press conference next Tuesday.

Francisco A. Salazar has written for Boxingscene.com since September of 2012 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (Calif.) Star newspaper, RingTV, and Knockout Nation. He can be reached by email at santio89@yahoo.com or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing