The mood seemed light enough and so did Nonito Donaire as he trained Tuesday for his July 10 bout in Puerto Rico against Hernan ?Tyson? Marquez.
But Donaire isn?t quite light enough. He has to lose a good 10 pounds to make the 115-pound super-flyweight limit for the bout. A very good 10 pounds indeed.
The weight loss will almost certainly be to his detriment, and he said he?s ticked off about it. ?I should be fighting at this weight,? Donaire said at the Undisputed Boxing Gym in San Carlos.
The former 112-pound champion has been pressing Top Rank to move him to 118 pounds immediately and 122 as soon as possible. A fight against anyone but Vic Darchinyan or Jorge Arce at 115 was not what he had in mind, knowing it meant several weeks of ?I can?t eat.?
Donaire?s prot?g? Dodie Boy Penalosa Jr., who finally makes his U.S. pro debut this weekend at Lake Tahoe, looks about 13 years old, but he?ll be fighting at 122. If he?s a junior featherweight, then Donaire should be a junior welterweight.
Donaire was actually testing that theory Tuesday against welterweight-size sparring partners Glenn Gonzales and former featherweight champion Steven Luevano, each about 15 pounds above his competitive weight.
?I learned a lot,? Donaire said of his session with the slick southpaw Luevano. ?His punches are ridiculously sharp. You see it coming, but still it lands.? Donaire said he usually can block more than 80 percent of the punches he sees coming, but against Luevano it was more like 30 percent.
With the Plyometrics trainer Michael Bazzel and Donaire are emphasizing, and the Victor Conte-influenced ?SNAC? nutrition system fortifying his innards (no, not steroids), Donaire is tending to add muscle weight whenever he exerts himself.
He?s having to cut back on some of the routines lest he miss the 115-pound target, possibly by a lot. His body is telling him he?s progressing from post-adolescent to full-grown man.
You may recall Donaire doesn?t like being stymied from that sort of progression. That was the issue in his split with his father-trainer.
He needs to grow. Assuming he beats Marquez as expected July 10, Donaire says his insistence that he move up in weight will become unyielding.
He barely made weight for his last fight, Feb. 13. This time the weight-loss issue is truly eating at him.
