WBO bares officials for Donaire-Nishioka fight

International referee Raul Caiz Sr. of the United States will be the third man inside the ring when WBO and IBF superbantamweight champion Nonito “The Filipino Flash” Donaire battle former WBC superbantamweight champion Toshiaki Nishioka of Japan on Oct. 14 (Manila Time) at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California.

Caiz is familiar to Filipino fight fans having refereed the WBO lt.flyweight title defense of the ALA Gym’s Donnie Nietes against Felipe Salguero of Mexico last June at the Resorts World Performing Arts Theater in Pasay City.

The three judges who will score the bout are Adalaide Byrd (Las Vegas), Tony Crebs (California) and Fritz Werner (California). The WBO supervisor will be Richard De Cuir.

The 29 year-old Donaire (29W-1L, 18 KOs) unified the IBF and WBO titles last July by beating Jeffrey Mathebula of South Africa by unanimous decision at the same venue. The 36 year-old Nishioka (39W-4L-3D, 24 KOs) was bestowed the title of Emeritus Champion by the WBC early this year. The Japanese southpaw known as “Speed King” has beaten quality opponents like Mexican former world champions Rafael Marquez and Jhonny Gonzales.

The Philippines has yet to win over Japan in world title fights held this year and Donaire is bent on changing that.

Last July, Sonny Boy Jaro lost his WBC flyweight title by split decision to Toshiyuki Igarashi and Sylvester Lopez failed to beat WBC superflyweight champion Yota Sato, losing by unanimous decision. Michael Fareñas on the other hand, had to settle for a technical draw against Takashi Uchiyama in their WBC superfeatherweight title bout.

Donaire has not scored a knockout since he moved up to 122 lbs. Last February, he was also stretched to 12 rounds in his split decision win against Wilfredo Vasquez Jr. of Puerto Rico for the WBO title.

Nishioka has been fighting in this weight category since 2004 after he lost his WBC bantamweight title to Veeraphol Sahaprom of Thailand.