MANILA, Philippines ? It was a stuffy afternoon on Tuesday, April 22, at the Elorde Boxing Gym in Sucat. There father and son ? Nonito Donaire Jr and father Nonito Sr ? played out a scene they had orchestrated countless times before since the former was a child.
Nonito Sr held the mitts and ?Jun? punched them. It?s unlikely that the percussive thud that filled the air this afternoon had been replicated in that gym since the early days of Manny Pacquiao, yet Donaire wasn?t entirely pleased.
?That?s my problem,? Donaire says after landing a thudding left uppercut. ?Once I hit that I stop. I need to get out of that mindset.?
Indeed, the 31-year-old Donaire (32-2, 21 knockouts) of San Leandro, California by way of Talibon, Bohol is at a crossroads in his career, following a disastrous 2013 campaign that proceeded the best year of his career.
In the midst of his career rising to new levels, Donaire had seemingly forgotten the formula that had led him to success initially. He fell in love with his power. That same syndrome ultimately led to the downfall of Mike Tyson.
After winning the BWAA Fighter of the Year award for 2012, Donaire?s career began to unravel. First he lost a split-decision to Guillermo Rigondeaux in early 2013, just before the birth of his first son Jarell. He returned later that year and struggled to defeat Vic Darchinyan ? whom he had knocked out easily in 2007 ? before rallying from behind to knock him out in 9 rounds.
Donaire suffered a facial fracture in that fight, which made him reconsider his approach to boxing.
?With negativity there is positivity and you can make use of the positivity in the negativity,? said Donaire, a titleholder in 4 divisions. ?There is light and there is dark and I believe that with the darkness that hovered over me in 2013 it made me realize to bring out the potential that I have and I believe that I can bring out the potential that I have in the future. But it needed to happen in order for me to realize where I wanted to be. And at the same time it made me realize that I have not given my all yet and I want to give my all this time.”
?Then I only relied on punching power; if I hit you with it, you knew you were going down. That?s the mentality that I went with until the last fight with [Vic] Darchinyan where I had an injury and I faced my son and I said ?I want to still box because I love boxing but I don?t want this face facing him with aches and pains when he can understand that I don?t want him to look at me and feel sorry for me.??
