Nordine Oubaali is heading to Japan for his next bantamweight title defense.
It had been announced that Oubaali will defend his WBC 118-pound title against interim titleholder Takuma Inoue on November 7 in Saitama, Japan. The fight will be on the undercard for the World Boxing Super Series bantamweight finals between Naoya Inoue and Nonito Donaire.
The winner of Oubaali vs. Inoue could potentially face former world champion Luis Nery next as WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman previously stated Nery should get a title shot next. Nery originally held the title before being stripped in 2018 after missing weight before a title defense against Shinsuke Yamanaka in Japan.
During a period of time in the months after Nery was stripped in which the WBC looked to have a new titleholder, the governing body also created an interim title while a new world champion would be crowned. Inoue won the interim belt late last year in Japan with a win over Petch Sor Chitpattana while Oubaali won the WBC title this past January with a win over Rau’shee Warren. Oubaali would go on to successfully defend his title on an MTK Global show on July 6 in Kazakhstan with a stoppage win over Arthur Villanueva.
The World Boxing Super Series bantamweight finals between Inoue and Donaire will be for the unified WBA and IBF titles. The two bantamweight title fights are expected to be streamed on DAZN.
