Donaire vs Arce Fight Moved to October 13, Rios-Alvarado Co-Feature

The proposed October 20 bout between IBF and WBO super bantamweight titlist Nonito Donaire and Mexican veteran Jorge Arce has been moved back to October 13, according to Ronnie Nathanielsz, and will include a 140-pound fight in the televised co-feature between Brandon Rios and Mike Alvarado.

Donaire (29-1, 18 KO) and Arce (60-6-2, 46 KO) have been expected to fight "next time" for right about a year now, and it appears that "next time" is here. The 29-year-old Filipino will likely be heavily favored, as most diehard fans expect this to be a perfect style matchup for him, against an overly aggressive foe who doesn't mind taking shots. Donaire's best performances have come as a counter puncher, and Arce should allow him to do that.

The two have both fought recently. Donaire beat Jeffrey Mathebula on July 7, while Arce went to a two-round no-contest with Jesus Rojas on June 9, on the Pacquiao-Bradley undercard.

As for the co-feature, that's a fight people have wanted to see for a while, and it's a good one. Rios (30-0-1, 22 KO) and Alvarado (33-0, 23 KO) are all action fighters whose styles should complement each other well, in that it'll sort of be like a pair of 140-pound Mack trucks running into one another.

Both last fought on April 14, with drastically different results. Rios received a gift with a big red bow on it against Richard Abril, while Alvarado outlasted Mauricio Herrera in a tremendous war.

This card moving back a week does mean it won't go head-to-head with Showtime's Garcia-Morales II card, but it will probably wind up going head-to-head with Showtime's rescheduled Cloud-Pascal card.