Donaire vs Arce rumored to be headed to Houston, still on December 15

BoxingScene.com reports that sources close to Team Arce are saying that negotiations for a fight between Nonito Donaire and Jorge Arce are still ongoing, with the bout now being targeted for the Toyota Center in Houston, rather than Mexico City.

Donaire reportedly balked at the terms offered recently, and turned down fighting Arce in Mexico City on December 15. That's still the date being discussed, reportedly, and HBO would televise. I think we can probably guess that Top Rank's pipe dream of holding a card at Marlins Park in Miami is gone, as there have been no further discussions about that date after Timothy Bradley indicated he was happy to take the rest of 2012 off.

Donaire (30-1, 19 KO) and Arce (61-6-2, 46 KO) have done this dance many times over the past couple of years, and there's still no reason to expect the fight to actually get done. Both sides have always seemed to report a more serious interest than they actually have in making the fight. It's a promoter's dream for Bob Arum, who matches his guy (Donaire) with an exciting, popular, and almost certainly overmatched opponent (Arce) for good money, and Arce really wouldn't lose anything by losing to Donaire, either. Nobody would expect him to win, I don't think, and he wouldn't lose any value, probably.

At this point, even though I think it's a mismatch or at the very least a tailor-made fight for Donaire, I just hope it happens so we can stop talking about it every few months, after every Donaire fight.