FILIPINO star Nonito Donaire has been waiting in the wings for a big fight since stunning Vic Darchinyan in 2007. But the immensely amiable bantamweight has since been getting his life in order. He married Rachel and is no longer trained by his father, Nonito Snr. Family tensions still run high.
Now he is coached by Robert Garcia and, in his own words, ?It?s been good.?
Donaire?s form has bordered on sensational, so much so that the good-class opponents he has been facing have been blown away.
?He?s mostly the guy who lays out the gameplan,? Donaire explains of Garcia’s role, ?I usually put my own gameplan together and submit it to him and he tweaks it here and there saying I should do this instead of that. I have a nutritionist, [the infamous] Victor Conte, but he has done well with everything that I do. The things he does with intermittent, hypoxic training, a high altitude simulation, that helps me enormously. Not only that, we do comprehensive blood-testing to see what is needed in my system, how my body is working ? ?Is it perfect, is it overworked or overtrained?? So going into a fight I?m already confident knowing my blood is telling me, ?You?re like Superman right now.?
?And that?s the thing that Victor has given me, that mental preparation where I think, ?Dude, you have nothing wrong with you. You?re blood is excellent. There?s no excuse. You?re blood is good.? Then he has me, when I?m sparring in training, wearing a heart-rate monitor, so I know how fast I?m recovering from the beginning to the end of training. And he also introduced me to my sprint trainer, he?s very famous in track and field, Remi Korchemny. He kicks my butt on that track like crazy. He?s a great man. He?s a very old-school, traditional guy but he kicks my ass. But when I come in the next week I?m so much stronger.?
Yet, as illustrated in our big Christmas issue in a long feature with Donaire, while he trains his focus on being the best he can be there has been plenty of heartache, much of it surrounding the fall-out with his father, although some of it has been related to boxing.
Haiwaiian flyweight Brian Viloria defeated Donaire and his brother Glenn in the Olympic trials and Nonito was convinced he deserved to win.
?I think that was the first time when the grown-up world slapped me in the face and it?s like, how corrupt this world can be. And how favouritism plays a big part. And I was shocked because my brother beat the crap out of him and when they fought the split points system was off so they had to go to a decision and that?s when they decided he lost and people were kicking and throwing chairs and booing and at that time my brother was the ultimate. I wasn?t good enough for my brother. He toyed with me when we sparred and I thought, ?I can?t beat this guy, because no matter if I beat him to a pulp, I?m still going to lose the fight.? So even before the fight I was already losing because I didn?t expect to win regardless of anything. Even Sugar Ray Leonard came up to me and said, ?If they did this when I was growing up I would never have become world champion because I would have quit if they had taken my dreams away.? He said I?d won the fight. But when people tell you you win and you don?t get the decision you still feel bitter. It?s not a great feeling.?
Nonito wanted to stay as an amateur to earn scholarship but his father stamped his foot and said he was turning pro.
And from then on Donaire was on the hard road. He didn?t have a promoter.
?I was a short-notice guy,? he smiles, ?that?s why I fought at 120, 122 and 118 at the beginning of my career, because it was the little guys and they would call me to try and build their guys up and I would always knock them out. That?s when my manager [Cameron Dunkin] discovered me, because of that tough process that I went through.?
He came out of almost nowhere to stun Darchinyan, something that triggered a parting from promoter Gary Shaw, a topic Nonito is not keen to talk about.
?I think he was upset Darchinyan lost,? Donaire continues. ?It was unbelievable to the boxing world but all I know is I didn?t fight for more than a year [afterwards].?
Now he is with Top Rank. Golden Boy had him as a guest at the recent Amir Khan-Marcos Maidana clash in Las Vegas. He is a sought-after fighter, one of the best in the world, and is moving into a huge February 19 showdown with Fernando Montiel, a twin-title holder.
?It?s been great,? Donaire explains of his success. ?I?ve met good people. I?ve met a lot of good guys and life?s been great. I?ve had a lot of support from friends, family as well as the fans out there so it?s been really good.
?I never even got to dream this far when I was younger to think about it. I dreamt only so far and then dreamt more and more but I never even saw myself at this level. This is amazing. It?s an amazing feeling and I?m just blessed.?
