Nonito Donaire, Jr. with his World Boxing Association (WBA) interim super flyweight belt

MANILA, Philippines – After slugging it out against Latinos early this month, Filipino pugilists Nonito Donaire, Jr., Bernabe Concepcion and Eden Sonsona are slated to fight again this year.

Donaire, the only gainer in “The Challenge” fight card held in Puerto Rico last July 10, will reportedly face Mexican Fernando “Cochulito” Montiel in November in the United States.

PhilBoxing.com reported that the Filipino’s promoter, Bob Arum, and officials of US TV channel Showtime will decide on the venue this week.

Also called “The Filipino Flash,” Donaire retained his World Boxing Association (WBA) interim super flyweight belt by an 8th round technical knockout (TKO) win over Hernan “Little Tyson” Marquez of Mexico.

Montiel, on the other hand, holds the World Boxing Council (WBC) and World Boxing Organization (WBO) bantamweight titles.

Meanwhile, Concepcion and Sonsona will return to the ring earlier than Donaire as they are scheduled to battle in September.

“We are going to get them another fight in September and we are finding a place to put them,” said Mike Koncz, the adviser of Manny Pacquiao who handles the overseas fights of the 7-division world champion’s MP Promotions.

Concepcion (28-4-1, with 15 knockouts) lost to Puerto Rican Juan Manuel “Juanma” Lopez, the WBO featherweight champion. Lopez (29-0, with 26 KOs) saw off Concepcion with a 2nd round TKO.

Sonsona (21-6, 7 KOs) was also knocked out by Puerto Rican Jonathan Oquendo (19-2, with 12 KOs) in the 9th round of their 10-round bout. (Read: Donaire TKOs Mexican, Juanma floors Concepcion)

Koncz added that another Filipino, Richie Mepranum (22-2-1, 5 KO’s), will likely fight in August.

Bernabe Concepcion (wearing a hat) and Eden Sonsona

    
Donaire in Pacquiao undercard?

Donaire (24-1, with 16 KOs) could not contain his excitement over his upcoming match-up with Montiel.

“It will be a helluva fight,” Donaire told Ronnie Nathanielsz of PhilBoxing.com.

“The Filipino Flash” said he is “excited, because this is the fight I have been wanting. It’s the best match-up I could ever ask for.”

Donaire also commended Montiel (43-2-2, with 33 KOs) for being a “very strong fighter and good champion.”
 
The Mexican defended his belts against Donaire’s former foe Rafael “El Torito” Concepcion of Panama on Saturday (Sunday in Manila) via a 3rd round knockout victory.

Donaire defeated the Panamanian in August 2009 via unanimous decision.

Montiel, meantime, earlier knocked out Filipino Ciso “Kid Terrible” Morales in Round 1 of their February 2010 fight in Las Vegas.

With the Montiel fight in the works, Donaire mentioned that he would like to be part of the November 13 fight card which will be headlined by Pacquiao.

“I really want to fight in the undercard of Manny, this will be big for Filipinos,” he said in a Sports Chat radio interview as quoted by Olmin Leyba of The Philippine Star.

“But then that depends on the venue because last I heard, they wanted to go to Mexico and my manager wouldn’t want that. We’ll see,” added Donaire.

Pacquiao’s promoter, Arum, is eyeing Mexican Antonio Margarito or Puerto Rican Miguel Cotto as a possible replacement for Floyd Mayweather, Jr., who snubbed last week’s deadline to agree to fight the Filipino boxing icon. – With reports from The Philippine Star and PhilBoxing.com