Nonito, the last time we saw one another was at the Pacquiao/Hatton tease, we talked a little about how we both thought the fight would play out, but damn!! We both never thought that Pacquiao would close the show that early, how shocked were you that the fight didn’t even see the 3rd round?
Well Albert, I noticed right away how Hatton had that chin in the air, I knew Pacquiao would check it, I just didn’t think it would be that early.
So have you spoken to the Pac-Man since his great victory? If so, what was said?
You know I haven’t spoken to him, I did go to his after party afterward but I never got to speak to him. I did speak to Manny after the De La Hoya fight, I remember Manny being so surprised that he just did what he did to a great fighter like Oscar.
Talk to us about your next fight on August 15th against Rafael Concepcion, what do you know about this brawler from Panama? Have you seen tapes on him yet? What are your thoughts on him?
I’ve seen a few clips, he is tough he comes to fight but I also come to fight so it’s going to be a good fight.
So how has camp been going? Will Rafael go the distance with The Filipino Flash?
For every fight I want to take the guy out, I will be right there then once I figure him out, that’s when I will use everything to my advantage. I want to show that I can carry my power from 112 to 115.
Alright so if you look around at the pound for pound lists out there, you will see your name roaming around between the 7 and 10 spot, who would you say Nonito Donaire would have to face and beat to crack the top 5?
I feel that I must beat Darchinyan again to prove all those doubters wrong. A lot of sites have Darchinyan up there but it’s only because he has recently just beat good Mexican fighters, that is it. I want to beat this guy again to prove that he’s just a bully.
So let’s hear your top 10 best fighters pound for pound, who makes Nonito’s list?
You got to have Pacquiao at #1, then Juan Manuel Marquez, after that it gets tricky, there are a lot of good fighters out there that belong on the list in no particular order like Juan Manuel Lopez, Shane Mosley, Paul Williams, fighters like that.
Darchinyan vs. Agbeko is on this weekend, Myself and 3 or 4 other members of the press were the only ones to pick Agbeko over the Raging Bully, who do you have?
I got to go with King Kong to stop the Raging Bully in the late rounds, [Laughing] I like that Raging Bully name for him, it fits him well. Darchinyan doesn’t hit as hard as people think, he just has heavy hands. So Albert, I think that King Kong will stomp on the bully.
What are your thoughts on Marquez vs the now magically healed Floyd? Also your thoughts on the proposed Manny Pacquiao vs Miguel Cotto clash?
Magically healed Floyd [laughing] I think that Floyd may be in over his head on this one, Marquez is just so good, he places his punches well and is not shy about letting his hands go. We haven’t seen Floyd for quite a while so it’s going to be interesting to see how he responds and how he looks. As far as Pac-Man vs Cotto, I think that Pacquiao is going to be too fast for Cotto, we all saw how Cotto struggled with Clottey, mind you that Clottey is a real good fighter, but Clottey is nowhere near Pacquiao when it comes to speed.
I think that since you 2 fight so much alike that it would be really cool if you could dedicate your next fight to the great Alexis Arguello, your thoughts?
That is a great idea Albert, I would love to and thank you so much for mentioning me in the same sentence as the Great Arguello, Arguello was truly a legend he will be missed dearly. Well I got to get going Albert, thanks for the call, I will chat with you later, call me up anytime.
