Donaire and Gaballo make weight with ease for WBC title bout
This weekend we were expecting to watch two Filipino fighters defending their Bantamweight titles. Unfortunately one of those fighters, WBO champion John Riel Casimero, has had to pull out of his scheduled bout with Paul Butler. Thankfully the champion however, WBC champion Nonito Donaire (41-6, 27), will be going ahead of his scheduled bout as he faces mandatory challenged Reymart Gaballo (24-0, 20) in a rare all-Filipino world title bout.
Yesterday the two men took part in their weigh in for the bout and both men comfortably made the Bantamweight limit. In fact neither even came close to the limit, with Donaire hitting 117.2lbs and Gaballo down at 117lbs, dead on.
For Donaire the bout will be his first since stopping Nordine Oubaali in May to capture the title, and set a record for the oldest man to win a Bantamweight world title. He will bee strongly favoured here, but at the age of 39 he is certainly a fighter coming to the end of his career, and he will need to roll back the clock once again.
As for Gaballo, the bout is a huge step up for him, and aged 25 it might be coming a little too soon for him. He was made to look distinctly average in December 2020, when he narrowly got past Emmanuel Rodriguez, winning the interim title with a Split Decision. Compared to that bout, this one is much, much more dangerous for Gaballo, given Donaire's thunderous power.
For fans wanting to watch this it will be aired on Showtime and WOWOW among other channels.
Related - WBC champion Donaire faces Gaballo in all Filipino world title bout!
Yesterday the two men took part in their weigh in for the bout and both men comfortably made the Bantamweight limit. In fact neither even came close to the limit, with Donaire hitting 117.2lbs and Gaballo down at 117lbs, dead on.
For Donaire the bout will be his first since stopping Nordine Oubaali in May to capture the title, and set a record for the oldest man to win a Bantamweight world title. He will bee strongly favoured here, but at the age of 39 he is certainly a fighter coming to the end of his career, and he will need to roll back the clock once again.
As for Gaballo, the bout is a huge step up for him, and aged 25 it might be coming a little too soon for him. He was made to look distinctly average in December 2020, when he narrowly got past Emmanuel Rodriguez, winning the interim title with a Split Decision. Compared to that bout, this one is much, much more dangerous for Gaballo, given Donaire's thunderous power.
For fans wanting to watch this it will be aired on Showtime and WOWOW among other channels.
Related - WBC champion Donaire faces Gaballo in all Filipino world title bout!