In the first part of ‘The pugilistic footsteps of Nonito Donaire’ we got a look at the General Santos City fighter’s early life and his foray into the sport of boxing. Nonito was reflective when speaking of both the daily grind he faced in the Philippines and the impact that moving to America had on him at a young age.
In the second part of the interview Donaire fast forwards a little bit and takes us to a point in his career when he was just beginning to realize his championship potential. Donaire also goes in depth about his passion for life itself and the learning lessons he has taken from Manny Pacquiao over time.
Donaire is scheduled to face Manuel Vargas tonight at the Hilton Hotel in Las Vegas and came in a trim and ready 115 pounds in conjunction with the defense of his interim WBA Super Flyweight belt. Following the weigh in Donaire was seen at Top Rank’s exclusive Tweetup event and seems to be in good spirits heading into yet another pivotal bout.
While many eyes will be fixed on Donaire tonight the real anticipation will certainly lie ahead as the 27 year old will again push for the biggest names in or around his division. Whether Donaire gets his coveted opportunity this year remains to be seen but what is obvious in talking to him is that his ambitions in life run much deeper than just the sport of boxing.
On the eve of his upcoming fight and speaking in his own words, this is what Donaire had to say…
His January 2006 ShoBox fight with Kahren Harutyunyan… “I had sparred Kahren a few times and had been knowing him. We both used to train at Freddie’s and I’ve known him for a long time actually. When I started getting back into boxing I started trying to get my mind and body back into boxing. I came to the realization that boxing worked that way and you were just going to end up fighting guys who you already knew. I realized I had to just go out there and do my thing, I learned a lot from that fight because I felt like that I didn’t fight hard in that fight. I had sparred him before and it felt like I was sparring in that fight. I told myself that to get to the next level I had to learn to destroy everyone and anyone in front of me. I’m still learning that and I see that when Pacquiao fights. I’m still trying to get to that level. I want to eventually have the mentality of destroying everything in front of me and I know that I will become something bigger than I am now. Bigger than a world champion because I will be able to take away all of the tears of failure and be able to move on from that. If I’m able to attain that I will be a very viscous fighter.”
The feeling of stopping Vic Darchinyan to become a champion… “When I became a champion it was a feeling that I couldn’t describe. I had finally accomplished my childhood dream of becoming something or somebody. You just can’t describe it, it is some kind of feeling like when you are hanging out with you friends and you start acting like a fool because you can’t believe you got that victory and that’s what you wanted. It just feels incredible. Going into that fight the guy was very disrespectful and very rude that I didn’t care much for being a world champion. All I wanted to do was hit him and take him down. That’s what I had in my head and when I realized that I was a world champion the overwhelming feeling of victory and accomplishment went all through my body and I didn’t know how to react. I didn’t know what to do or to say. I felt like I was glowing and I didn’t know what to do.”
Returning to Vegas and getting over the hump… “I honestly can say that I didn’t perform my best in Vegas. All of the fights I have had out here I haven’t been 100 percent and that’s something I have to break. It’s just something about Vegas that I have to get over. To get bigger and better than I am I have to get rid of that cloud of Las Vegas. It’s the capital of boxing, the crowd, and it is just intimidating. I honestly haven’t been my best and I am hoping to be 100 percent in future fights. That’s what I want to bring into my next fight. I want to be fully committed to fighting. It’s haven’t been at my best and I am hoping to be 100 percent in future fights. That’s what I want to bring into my next fight. I want to be fully committed to fighting. It’s one of the clouds over my head that I want to clear.”
Passions and interests outside of boxing… “I love video games. There are some games that I will just spend so much time playing. There are certain games that I haven’t’ figured out but there are still a lot of games that I have beaten. I love animation as well and I’ve always been into that. I love art. Art is something that keeps me relaxed and keeps me sane sometimes when boxing gets hard. Sometimes when things get hard I can turn to painting, or reading, or sketching, or music and I love simple things. I love life, that is one thing I can say. I love learning and whatever I can be a part of to improve my mental self, spiritual self, or physical I will take the time to learn that.”
Learning from Manny Pacquiao… “One thing I have learned is that there may be guys who are more talented than him but what makes him the best is the level of confidence that he fights with. He isn’t afraid to face anything, no matter what is going on in his life. Boxing is his sanctuary. He goes in there and he enjoys it. He inspires me to be like that. That is one thing that I want to accomplish. I know that I can work hard but it’s about brining that same mentality into the fight and being able to run over everybody. That’s one thing that I want to accomplish within myself, is to be able to have that switch where I can take out anyone. I am still learning little by little what I need to do in that ring. I’m not there yet but when I do get there I think I am going to be a monster. I want to be able to weather the storm of pressure, expectation, and I think about that sometime. I want to be able to just go and do the things I should be going instead of thinking about that.”
