Nonito Donaire may be at the tail end of an illustrious warrior's career but he has no intention of giving up his pursuit of the biggest fights.
'Filipino Flash', a former four-weight world champion who was regarded by many leading sports media outlets as 'fighter of the year' in 2012, takes on WBC bantamweight champion Nordine Oubaali in Carson, California on Saturday hoping he can bounce back from his last outing, a defeat over 12 rounds to pound-for-pound ranked Japanese star Naoya Inoue in the World Boxing Super Series final.
Donaire told DAZN's Spanish-language team (original interview here) that he wants another shot at Inoue if he can dethrone France's Oubaali and believes the additional world title belt could be enough to tempt the WBA, IBF and The Ring champ into another unification showdown.
"I'm very ready and focused on this fight," Donaire said of the upcoming Oubaali test.
"I'm excited it could happen right now, after several times it looked like it was going down. This time we are here, ready. I feel Oubali is at his best and that's why I don't underestimate him at all.
"We are focused to the maximum, it doesn't matter what his record says, we are just focused on him being at his best. Sometimes fighters can get motivated because they want to beat me and that's why they will give their best.
"My last fight (Inoue) showed me many things and taught me a lot as there were many things I had to re-learn: aggressiveness, that killer instinct and all those things I have to do to be in the best condition.
"After Oubali I want a rematch with Inoue, I think that is now one of my big goals. I am motivated and my motivation leaves me with a very good feeling where I am the one who will determine what will happen in the future.
"[I want] to be the best fighter in this division, I want to beat everyone, I want to do my best in the time I have left."