Nonito ?The Filipino Flesh? Donaire is a heavy betting favorite, twelve to one according to a wagering site 5dimes.com, against former Puerto Rican world champion Wilfred Vasquez Jr. They are scheduled to face off in the ring at the Alamodome in San Antonio Texas on February 4th. HBO will televise live a twelve rounds or less contest for the vacant WBO super bantamweight title. Even though he is moving up in weight Nonito is a favorite and a favorite to win by a knock out. Experts consider the style of former champion to be tailor made for Donaire, but Nonito?s coach is not taking their opponent lightly.
?Vasquez Jr. is a hell of a fighter,? exclaimed Coach, Robert Garcia when I interviewed him in Las Vegas on Saturday:? He?s got tremendous power and I am sure that he has learned a lot from his loss.? The son of a legend suffered the only loss of his professional career last May on the undercard of Manny Pacquiao and Shane Mosley event. Ahead on all scorecards, Vasquez was seemingly cruising to a decision win. All he had to do was stay on his feet for the twelfth and final round. That?s when veteran Mexican banger, Jorge Arce summoned all his strength and ring smarts and stopped Vasquez Jr in a fight that stole the show from the main event.?Sometimes a lot of people feel, oh, he lost to Arce, so he is no good,? continued trainer Garcia:? But a lot of fighters learn from those losses. So may be we are going to get a better Vasquez than before. So that?s what we expect a good Vasquez and hopefully a great fight.?
Even though Nonito is coming up in weight, he is full of confidence. This is the first camp he did not have to watch what he ate. He plans to clean out the super bantamweight division after he deals with Vasquez Jr.
?I think we are going to be at 122 pounds for a while,? confirmed coach, Garcia:? Nonito feels very comfortable. His weight is right on target. He?s got no weight problem. So I think 122; we are going to be there for a few fights.?
But it is not about how comfortable Nonito feels at this weight; it?s more about how he is going to react to getting hit by bigger and stronger guys. This is where I believe trainer; Robert Garcia demonstrated his ingenuity and showed why he is being considered among the top professional trainers of today. What did he do? He put Donaire to spar with lightweights, guys three divisions above the weight Nonito will be fighting on February 4th.
?We had a great training camp,? said Garcia who had to divide his time between Oxnard and Las Vegas to accommodate his star pupil, Donaire:? It was here in Vegas. We had a Russian guy, Yevgeny Gratovich and we had Javier Garcia as sparring partners. They are bigger, stronger, but that?s what we needed with Nonito; guys that are going to pressure him, guys that are going to tire him. So training camp went really good. Last camp we had with Nonito we had guys his weight and he was hurting them. He dropped couple of our spring partner?s couple of times. So we figured we had to get bigger guys that could take his punch and that could hang in there six, eight rounds. We did up to twelve rounds and our guys did a good job.?
Nonito Donaire arrived in San Antonio on Monday in anticipation of his February 4th bout with Wilfred Vasquez Jr. Team Donaire believes they left no stone unturned in preparation for this battle. Don?t miss this one.
If you like this story, please click the subscribe button at the top of this page and get my articles sent directly to your email. Check out my latest in the suggested articles section below.
