Nonito “Jun-Jun” Donaire Jr. is hardly your typical boxer in looks and demeanor. He is now the IBF world flyweight champion, but spend a few minutes with him and you’ll be amused at the way he conducts himself.
For a 24-year-old, he can be vivacious, naughty and playful, cracking jokes and making fun of everything and everyone, including himself. The boy is a live wire.
Of course it’s not evident when he is doing his thing inside the square ring. He is all business there, and if you saw his recent annihilation of the heretofore unbeaten Vic Darchinyan, you would think he is a merciless monster.
A few nights ago, along with media colleague Dennis Principe, I spent some time with the Nonito Donaires, Sr. & Jr., and close relative, Arvin Jugarap at a watering hole along Roxas Blvd.
It was amusing to hear “Jun-Jun” talk American English and then just as comfortably switch to Cebuano, accent and all like the half-Boholano that he is.
Listening to Jun-Jun and Arvin conversing in Cebuano one could almost imagine the 2 twenty-somethings as a couple of yuppies in Cebu.
Arvin, an electronics engineer, is a cousin of the world champ who was also at Donaire’s corner that fateful 07-07-07.
When the two youngsters revert to English however, they sound like a couple of rappers getting ready to perform. Contrary to some pronouncements that the Donaires have been flying under the radar of Filipino boxing fans, Jun-Jun and his elder brother Glenn actually campaigned in the Philippines for a couple of years in 2001-2002.
As a matter of fact, both Fi-lAmerican kids fought several times in the Cantada Sports-produced “Fistorama”.
But the one thing that we remember about the Donaire brothers is their wearing their Filipino heritage like a badge of honor.
Nonito the father says that even as amateurs, with no television cameras or press to follow them, the Donaires already bore the Filipino flag every time they fought.
Nonito Sr. is not ashamed of his poverty-stricken background. As a young boy in General Santos City, he would earn a few centavos peddling just about everything in the streets and later on working as a dockhand.
He and his family migrated to the United States after belatedly discovering that his father, who had worked in Hawaii plantations as a young man, was actually an American citizen. He died when Nonito Sr. was barely three years old, thereby consigning his wife and 10 kids to a life of financial hardship. The determined young man, however, made something of himself by entering the Philippine Army, where he rose to become Company Commander and Vice-President of his class, mainly to prove to his in-laws (he married at the tender age of 19) that he was worthy of his teacher-wife.
When they begot their children, they instilled in their four kids the Filipino values of fear of God, respect for elders, love of country and hard work.
Small wonder then that Jun-Jun revealed to me that he had no trouble denying himself so many pleasures while training.
He relates that a month and a half before a fight, he would limit his diet to mainly vegetables and some fish, oat meal and at most, one bread a day; strictly no rice.
This despite the fact that he can lose weight in a huff. “I once lost 6 lbs. in 7 minutes, just steaming myself in the tub under a hot shower. There’s no trick to it, that’s just how my body reacts!” a smiling Nonito Jr. bares.
Which is why during the weigh-in against Darchinyan, he says he knew he could beat the guy. “He looked gaunt from dieting and looked longingly while I ate to my heart’s content. Poor guy.”
But it was more than just conditioning that got him the crown. The two Nonitos painstakingly drew up a plan based on what they knew of Darchinyan’s style.
“My brother Glenn and Diosdado Gabi, who also fought Darchinyan, helped a lot with their respective inputs,” says Nonito Jr.
Asked about the future, the Donaires say they leave it to their manager and promoter although Jun-Jun would like to unify the different boxing organizations’ flyweight championship.
“But my job as a boxer is to train hard and fight. Whatever my managers decide and whomever they put in front of me, I will fight”.
Donaire the younger states matter-of-factly. Told that he will probably get movie offers owing to his good looks, he flashes a winsome smile and says “my priority will always be boxing.”
Then he belts out a couple of songs with aplomb, displaying a good voice, showmanship and typical Visayan musicality. Bisaya gyud!
