The aftermath of Nonito Donaire Jr.’s most recent fight with Fernando Montiel brought him double victory.
First, he won the WBC and WBO Bantamweight World Champion title. Second, he regained the word “son” from his dad, Nonito Donaire Sr.
PEP (Philippine Entertainment Portal) had the chance to talk to the boxing champ and his wife Rachel at the house of the latter’s parents in Alabang last March 14. The one-hour exclusive interview had the couple recalling the events that eventually led to the closure of Nonito Jr.’s nearly-three-year-old feud with Nonito Sr. (CLICK HERE to read related story.)
“We get to communicate, to talk, and him, letting me talk” was how the 28-year-old boxer described his relationship with his father since that fateful dinner, which took place in March 3.
Initially, we could sense Junjun’s (Nonito’s nickname) hesitation to talk about what happened. He had this “a-family-matter-remains-within-the-family” stance when we started the interview. Slowly, he started to relax, becoming more vocal about how he was at the height of the controversy and during its aftermath.
BEFORE THE FIGHT. “I knew a little bit… A little bit that something’s going on. When I’ve seen the article, I didn’t know how big it got,” he began.
The Filipino-American fighter was referring to his interview with Trix Dixon that got published on the website of Boxing News magazine last January 6. It was one of the few times he discussed his long-kept sentiments. A portion of the article wrote (published as is):
“All my life, I have done everything for my family,” he says, leaning forwards and with an expression that shows the opulent surroundings actually count for very little. “Even my subjects in school, it was them who picked my subjects, it wasn’t me. Everything that I did was for them. Anything and everything they’ve wanted me to do I have done. I was one of those kids who wanted my parents to be proud of me. I wanted my parents to be happy. I didn’t want to be a burden to them. I have never been in trouble at all. And when I finally became my own man; they were not ready to accept that. When I chose my wife, they were not ready to accept that. They did not want me to get married, they just wanted me to keep doing things that I’ve done for them and they wouldn’t accept my wife.”
Almost a week later, his mom?Imelda Donaire?issued her statement through Anthony Andales of philboxing.com. (CLICK HERE to read story)
From thereon until a few days before the February 20 fight of Junjun, the family feud was put in the hands of the media.
While his mom and dad were being interviewed left and right, the boxer was oblivious to what’s being said and written against him and Rachel.
Junjun said, “She [Rachel] pretty much sheltered me. But the thing is, it’s something that was already there, you know… There’s something that mga ganun-ganun… But I really just focused on my fight and tried not to be distracted with anything.”
In his spare time, Rachel made him avoid the TV and Internet.
Junjun elaborates, “Kasi ako, pag nagte-training ako, I’m so pagod every time, e. So, I usually don’t go online. I was kinda studying on how to work with Photoshop. I was really trying to occupy myself with…kung paano mag-edit, ganito, ganyan…
“So I haven’t really given the time to go and look, and listen to the news. Hindi ko alam ano nangyari sa opponents ko, ganito-ganyan… I just mainly focused on the boxing, and then, pagkatapos, pag my free time ako, I usually watch videos and read books.”
After the fight, that’s only when he learned that much of their dirty linen had been exposed in public. But the “hurt” became immaterial after the reconciliation.
He told PEP, “I was thankful [to] Rachel, you know…for everything. But after everything was settled, for me lang talaga, whatever…who I care about it are the people important to me.”
THE RIFT. There was so much pain on both sides of the fence. Even Rachel, Junjun said, “was really fuming mad at that time.”
But on March 2, his wife did what she had to do.
“Without even letting me know, she was able to drop everything to make things better. She called my dad. She called my brother. I did not expect that,” related the third pound for pound best boxer of Ring Magazine.
For her part, Rachel admitted it was not an easy move: “It was hard… I was trying to get his dad’s phone number. I kept texting everyone, no one would give it to me. Parang they thought I was going [to do] like prank call or something…”
And when, finally, she was hearing her “Papang’s” voice on the other line, “I didn’t know how that phone call’s gonna end up because I talked to him for an hour and a half, it went back and forth like he said this and he said that. Parang, like he had so much hurt, you know, as well.”
Among the issues that were brought up during the phone conversation was Junjun’s plan to change his surname because someone allegedly used his Social Security number for a credit card application.
Resuming her story, the former Taekwondo champion underlined that “it had nothing to do with him [father-in-law].” At the dinner, Rachel related, “I had to show him the next day somebody that had told us that they have his bank account numbers and stuff like that.”
Rachel couldn’t exactly tell how she changed her mind from fighting back to swallowing her pride. She confessed, “My first reaction when, you know?PEP asked me for a statement, and Showbiz Central asked me for a statement?was to fight back. Because that was my parents have always taught me. I’m naturally the person that fights back. I’m not the one that cries in the corner. I’m the one that fights…”
Nonito threw in, “Ako yung naturally in the corner, umiiyak.”
Moving on with Rachel’s statement, “It’s something I’ve been ingrained in, you know… I went to an all-girls Catholic school, where they teach you to be strong. They don’t teach you to back away.”
But a couple of minutes before 11:30 p.m. that evening, her thought balloon was:
“One road, I can clear his name, the Marcial name, my parents’. And then, it’s only gonna be this small circle of family in the end of this road…at the end of this tunnel.
“There’s another tunnel but it was gonna be harder. You know, calling, putting down your pride, trying to focus on the long-term goal, and at the end, there’s gonna be the Donaire and the Marcial family.”
She didn’t tell her husband about the phone call “because I didn’t know if I’ll manage to reconcile.”
Switching on his playful side, Junjun interjected, “I feel like there should be music in the background,” then hummed a tune.
After the call, the boxer said, “I was reading my book, and then she came in and I was like, ‘What happened? You disappeared on me. Where d’ya go?'”
Rachel’s response: “We gotta go see your dad tomorrow.”
THE FEUD IS OVER. The thought of coming face to face with his dad made Junjun “very, very, very, very nervous.”
First, he’s not sure how the meeting would start and end.
He said, “Usually, if it’s my dad, I would just usually drop my head ‘coz yun lang talaga ako with my dad… Parang Pilipino na, ‘Don’t don’t talk back to me. Huwag kang sasagot.'”
But the father-and-son bond they had for more than 20 years overruled their two-year rift.
Nonito Jr. related, “I was telling myself, ‘Stare at him. Don’t look away. Be a man. Respect but look. Give him an eye. And then after…when I got to look at him in the eye, and he looked at me back. And like, parang…he wants to just… Hinto na tayo, let’s stop this. I felt that… I felt really good. I didn’t have to poker face… For me, I felt like, ‘This is actually an amazing moment,’ and I felt relaxed and I felt like really good to just say whatever I need…the emotion to be out without the feeling na I have to be calm.”
Of course, there were a lot of awkward comments in the beginning. Rachel said, “Most of the time, I felt like I had to give them a microphone so then they wouldn’t interrupt each other.”
Smiling, Junjun cut in, “She was the referee.”
Then turning serious, he said, “Both had pain and anger… Let’s not recall what happened…”
One more thing the couple wanted to underscore: “There was no media.”
Rachel explained, “Everyone was very precocious about the meeting, so they wanted to bring like witnesses… [I said] ‘Okay, bring witnesses.’ Witnesses but no media. Family lang. And the family, they had brought cameras and stuff like that to document.”
Another request of Rachel: Turn off the video camera during the dialogue.
“And then after they discussed, and went through the all the hurt, and decided to let it drop, then they were able to take pictures. Anyway, it was a happy moment, and everybody wanted to capture it. It looked like a presscon because they keep on snapping their photos…but there was no press there at all,” she remarked, smiling.
Nonito’s smile was for a different reason.
“I was really happy na I was able to let out the feelings, and he let me talk… I was very, very thankful. And I was very happy to be able to give my dad a hug, a real hug, and with an acceptance na okay na tayo.”
His recent boxing victory made him beam with pride. But it was his triumph outside the ring that completed his happiness.
“I kinda like that feeling?like, every weight and every thing in my shoulder just dropped and parang, ‘Okay na, Ready to fight na.'”
