Bob Arum Thinks Nonito Donaire vs Yuriorkis Gamboa Can Happen Next Year

During a promotion of the Yuriorkis Gamboa vs Daniel Ponce de Leon fight scheduled for September 10 in Atlantic City, New Jersey, Arum talked about Gamboa's future fights.

Mentioning such talk about super fights as Lopez-Gamboa and even the speculated Donaire-Gamboa, Arum had this to say according to Boxing Scene:

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"As far as I’m concerned, big, big fights for Gamboa down the road are the winner of Juan Manuel Lopez and Salido. I would hope to make that fight by early next year. And then, probably the biggest fight in the featherweight division would be with the up and coming bantamweight champion Nonito Donaire, who will be coming up to featherweight next year and that would be a big, big match."

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While "Juanma" Lopez (30-1, 27 knockouts) has been a longtime Puerto Rican rival to Cuba's pride and joy Gamboa (20-0, 16 knockouts), this is the first Arum has officially stated of a potential matchup between Gamboa and Nonito Donaire (26-1, 18 knockouts).

Though Donaire is currently a bantamweight (118 lbs) and Gamboa is a featherweight (126 lbs), Arum seems confident Donaire can make the weight some time next year.

Arum also seems to hope he can cash in on the Lopez-Gamboa rivalry that started when both fighters were undefeated and has fizzled a bit since this past April when Lopez was knocked out by Orlando Salido (35-11-2, 23 knockouts).

A rematch between Salido and Lopez is in the works for early next year.

Meanwhile Gamboa must win his fight with the dangerous Ponce de Leon (41-3, 34 knockouts) and Donaire must win his October 22 fight against undefeated Omar Narvaez (35-0-2, 19 knockouts) to keep the hype for a superfight alive.