The Cotai Arena in Macao, China hosts boxing again this Saturday July 18th as Super Bantamweight stud Nonito Donaire (34-3) returns to face Anthony Settoul (20-3) in a scheduled 10 round bout. Right now, the books have Donaire a huge (-11000) favorite over Settoul, who is returning at (+3000). Ter eis no over/under posted as of yet. The card is promoted by Bob Arum and Top Rank, and Nonito Donaire was at one point one of their hottest commodities, but a loss to Guillermo Rigondeaux in April of 2013 saw him fall from the top ten pound for pound lists, and he is still trying to bounce back from an October of 2014 loss to Nicholas Walters. Donaire bounced back with a win in March of this year, stopping an out-gunned William Prado in the second round. This fight with Settoul is more of the same, as Settoul has held a European level belt, but you are taking about a fighter in Settoul who has 13 opponents with losing records on his resume for padding. Donaire may be slipping at the age of 32, but Settoul has never been in there with someone like Donaire. Donaire has made no secret about his desire to make another run at the top, and these type of fights are the prelude to what he hopes is a big money fight late ron down the line, The other fight from this card that is at the books features Super Flyweights in an eight round bout as undefeated Rex Tso (16-0) of China faces Khunkhiri Wor Wisaruth (21-11-1) of Thailand. Right now, Tso, who is known as “The Wonder Kid”, is a major (-16000) favorite over Wisaruth, who is returning at (+4000). There is no over/under on this fight posted. Promoter Bob Arum has done a good job in making Macao a frequent stop for his promotion, and he has stocked his stable with several bright Chinese stars that he will be looking to work with. Tso is one of those poster-boy types that Top Rank does not want to see lose, and the line here reflects that type of matchmaking. The live card features eight fights in all, including the twelve rounder for the vacant IBF World Super Featherweight title between undefeated Ik Yang (19-0) and the equally undefeated Cesar Rene Cuenca (47-0). Despite Cuenca’s impressive record, this is his first fight outside of his native Argentina, and he is going to be facing a home town favorite in Yang, who is at the forefront of a growing boxing scene in China. Also on the card is stand-out Lightweight Denis Shafikov (35-1), who is scheduled for a ten round bout against Indonesian veteran Roy Mukhlis (27-4-3), so there are several more fights on the card that could pop up at the sport books.
