The great Nonito Donaire plans to step into the ring once again on July 15 to challenge Alexandro Santiago for the vacant WBC bantamweight title. Donaire is one of the legends of the sport, holding titles in four weight classes ranging from flyweight to featherweight over the course of his career. He is the oldest bantamweight champion in the history of boxing, knocking out Nordine Oubaali in the fourth round at 38.5 years of age to win the WBC bantamweight title in May 2021, and he will look to reclaim that belt after being knocked out by Naoya Inoue in their mega-fight last June.
ShowTime Championship Boxing will have a solid co-main event on Saturday, July 15. Frank Martin and Artem Harutyunyan will meet in a lightweight title eliminator, while Nonito Donaire tries to win the WBC bantamweight title once more at the age of 40. This Premier Boxing Champions card will start at 10 p.m. ET from The Cosmo in Sin City.
When: Saturday, July 15, 2023
Where: The Chelsea at The Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas, Nevada
Why: WBC Bantamweight Title
Nonito Donaire vs Alexandro Santiago Betting Odds
Nonito Donaire -222
Alexandro Santiago +174
Although he will turn 41 in November, Nonito Donaire is still favored to win by the boxing betting odds here. This will be Donaire’s 50th fight, and he is looking to make more history by breaking his own record as the oldest bantamweight champion the division has seen. A $222 bet on Donaire would earn a $100 profit if he were to win, while a $100 bet on Santiago would earn $174 if he were to pull off the upset.
Nonito Donaire vs Alexandro Santiago Preview
The Filipino Flash is entering his 22nd year as a professional fighter. Nonito Donaire (42-7 with 28 knockouts) is a four-division world champion that is still performing at a very high level. Donaire claimed his first world titles all the way back in July 2007 when he scored a fifth round TKO of Vic Darchinyan to secure the IBF and IBO flyweight championships. He subsequently became a super flyweight interim champion in 2009, a bantamweight champion for the first time in 2011, a super bantamweight champion in 2012, and a featherweight champion in 2014. Donaire won 30 straight fights before finally falling to Guillermo Rigondeaux in a super bantamweight title fight in April 2013.
Donaire was 37-3 through his first 40 fights, but age has taken its toll. He is 6-4 in his last 10 fights, but all of those losses were at the hands of world champions. No one can begrudge him for losing to Naoya Inoue twice considering Inoue is considered the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world by many boxing fans. Carl Frampton is a two-division world champion, and Jessie Magdaleno won 29 of his first 30 fights.
Meanwhile, Alexandro Santiago is 27-3-5 with 14 knockouts in his career. Santiago is just 27 years old, but he is not a pretty fighter. In his previous title fight, he settled for a wild split decision draw that was ruled 118-110, 114-114, 112-116 on the scorecards, and he has a majority decision draw to Jose Martinez-Mercado that was fortunate to be graded as such considering one judge gave his opponent all but one round.
Santiago will also be at a significant height and reach disadvantage. Donaire is 5’7 with a 68.5-inch reach, while Santiago is just 5’2 with a 65.5-inch reach. It’s going to be very difficult for Santiago to land power punches, but he does know how to muddy things up.
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