Los Angeles (AFP)

"Having such a boxer on my hunting board would change my dimension": WBC bantamweight champion Nordine Oubaali wants to strike a blow against the Filipino Nonito Donaire, a big name in the small categories, on Saturday in Carson (California).

For his third title defense, the French could not have dreamed of a better challenger.

Because Donaire (40 victories, 6 defeats) is at 38 years old already in the Pantheon of their sport, he who was world champion in four different categories: between 2007 and 2019, he successively dominated the flyweight (IBF), roosters (WBC, WBO), Super Roosters (IBF, WBO) and Feathers (2014).

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Oubaali, 34, has a less prestigious CV, but he is undefeated in 17 fights, all won.

And although he has by his own admission "the most beautiful belt", he is still behind his opponent in the various rankings of bantamweight (less than 53.5 kilograms).

"On paper, it's my biggest fight," he summed up to AFP, a few days before this meeting which should have taken place a year ago, but had to be postponed due to of the Covid-19 pandemic.

- "I have more weapons" -

Those 18 months without boxing, "have been frustrating, but it has given me time to recover and come back fresh. This period has given me the chance to regain my youth. I don't expect to be rusty at all. Saturday. When I returned to training, I felt that the power, the speed, the explosiveness were there again. I am very confident, "warned Donaire.

The latter, who remains on a defeat against the Japanese Naoya Inoue, N.1 in the category and holder of the WBA and IBF belts, nevertheless refuses "to underestimate Oubaali".

"He's very strong technically, he boxes smart and doesn't wear that WBC belt on his waist for nothing."

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"He has a killer instinct, and I respect his career, but I have more weapons," assured the 34-year-old Lensois.

"I am reactive, not easy to touch and I have a strong strike force. He will not be able to indulge himself anyhow, because he risks paying dearly. It is up to me to sanction each of his mistakes, to dictate the fight, to show that I am the champion. "

"It will be up to me to push him to make a mistake and bring him where I want to take him. It will have to be unpredictable, we cannot face Donaire with a boxing which is not complicated to read. He likes the contact, when we surrender blow for blow, but not when uncertainty wins. This is the strength of my boxing ", he developed.

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- Objective Naoya Inoue -

On Saturday, a Manila scent will float above the Dignity Health Arena, which is expected to be filled with plenty of Los Angeles Filipinos.

Nothing that can intimidate the French, who won his belt in Las Vegas against the American Rau'shee Warren in January 2019 and kept it the same year against the Filipino Arthur Villanueva in Nur-Sultan, then against the Japanese Takuma. Inoue to Saitama.

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"In Japan, there were 40,000 people in the room, and I won the fight, as well as the supporters. Beating Donaire in front of his audience is even better," he said.

"I'm the best bantamweight in the world. I'm going to fight a big fight, just for everyone to know. I want everyone else to know that I'm ready to face them. I want to fight against the best," he said. hammered Oubaali who would like to unify the titles then against Naoya Inoue, brother of Takuma.

Donaire also has the Japanese in the sights, for what would be a revenge.

And he knows he will have to win on Saturday to qualify.

"We can highlight my experience or the youngest age of Oubaali, but it is hunger, envy that will make the difference," he said.

© 2021 AFP