Weigh-in alert: Naoya Inoue 117.9 Nonito Donaire 117.7

Naoya Inoue (left) and Nonito Donaire are ready to go at it again. Photo by Naoki Fukuda

Jun

The rematch of The Ring’s 2019 Fight of the Year is good to go.

Naoya Inoue and Nonito Donaire have weighed in successfully for Tuesday’s eagerly anticipated bantamweight unification showdown which, like the first fight, will take place at the Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.

Inoue, who holds Ring, WBA and IBF titles, looked in terrific shape at 117.9 pounds. Since dropping and outpointing Donaire, “The Monster” has scored stoppage wins over Jason Maloney (KO 7), Michael Dasmarinas (KO 3) and Aran Dipaen (TKO 8).

Donaire, holder of the WBC title, looked slightly more drained than his foe at 117.7, but we’ve seen this before. The multi-weight world champion, now 39 years old, always looks the part on fight night and that’s what counts. Since the Inoue fight, Donaire has wrenched the title he now holds from Nordine Oubaali (KO 4) and defended once against Reymart Gaballo (KO 4).