BARELY recovered from a shoulder operation last April, former WBO-WBA super bantamweight champion Nonito Donaire Jr. is back in training for a fight tentatively scheduled sometime in the last quarter of this year.
He had agreed to walk blindly into the championship ring by failing (refusing?) to watch a single taped bout of his Cuban opponent.
Many boxing writers and experts were on the same wavelength recently. They all believe that Nonito Donaire Jr. lost the fight last Sunday because he had underestimated Cuban boxer Guillermo Rigondeaux.
A RAGING mismatch, the fight was not, in any way, close.
With or without a hero’s welcome, fallen champ Nonito Donaire Jr. is heading home.
Firing stiff jabs and showing lightning-quick reflexes, Cuban Guillermo Rigondeaux outclassed Nonito Donaire Jr. on Saturday night for a stunning unanimous decision victory to unify their world super bantamweight titles at the jampacked Radio City Music Hall here.
Without missing a beat, Top Rank big boss Bob Arum said Nonito Donaire Jr. should move up to a heavier division to avoid the trouble of making weight each time he fights.
Malacañang said on Sunday that Filipinos would continue to root for fallen champion Nonito Donaire Jr. and that his return to glory would be a source of motivation.
Nonito Donaire Jr. vowed to go “power for power, speed for speed” while Cuban Guillermo Rigondeaux promised to do “more than I have done in the past.”
Good and bad, Nonito Donaire Jr., can’t deny of distractions going into his fight with Guillermo Rigondeaux. A few weeks before the fight, his long-time nutrition and condition coach Victor Conte left Team Donaire for reasons neither the reformed peddler of performance-enhancing drugs or the three-division champion bothered to explain.
“We’ll take Guillermo Rigondeaux into deep water.” Trainer Robert Garcia spoke of this game plan for Nonito Donaire Jr. when the WBO super bantamweight champion tries to add the WBA crown of the undefeated Cuban on Saturday (Sunday morning in Manila) at Radio City Music Hall here.
Nonito Donaire Jr. is now well entrenched in the millionaire boys’ club with a paycheck worth “well above a million dollars” for his world super bantamweight title unification fight with Guillermo Rigondeaux of Cuba this weekend.
Shedding just a few more pounds is the only thing that concerns Nonito Donaire Jr. who fights unbeaten Cuban Guillermo Rigondeaux in a world super bantamweight title unification bout Saturday (Sunday morning in Manila) at Radio City Music Hall here.
