Nonito Donaire brings back ‘old school’

Nonito Donaire Jr. AP FILE PHOTO/ERIC GAY

CARSON, California—Nonito Donaire Jr. is taking a throwback approach to preparing for his latest fight.

He has ditched being vocal on social media, preferring that his fists do the talking this time.

He has brought back old school training methods, including long-distance running. Donaire on Monday said he has gone back to his “old self,” bringing smart back to the game plan.

“Whatever will be said and done at this point will be said and done inside the ring,” Donaire said. “I will let my fists do that talking.”

Coming back from a 30-minute run along Manhattan Beach, Donaire entered the lobby of the Marriott looking fresh and fit.

Minus the usual large entourage, he only had wife Rachel, his trainer, dad Nonito Sr., and a couple of others in tow.

“I have gone back to my old style which is being smart,” said Donaire, who faces power-punching Jamaican Nicholas Walters on Saturday (Sundaymorning in Manila) for the WBA featherweight title at StubHub Center here.

Already, the fight, a co-mainer with the middleweight title bout between Gennady Golovkin and Marco Antonio Rubio, is sold out.

The venue used to be called Home Depot Center, site of Donaire’s 2012 conquests of Jeffrey Mathebula and Toshiaki Nishioka during his Fighter of the Year run.
“Hopefully, this third fight will be even better,” said Donaire, who trained for two months in his father’s gym in Oakland.

To prepare against the taller Walters, Donaire sparred with 5-foot-10 Russian Stan Martyniouk, who now helps Manny Pacquiao train for Chris Algieri.
“The old Donaire was very confident. My old self was so young and talked a lot,” added Donaire, who has won world titles in flyweight, bantamweight, super bantamweight and featherweight divisions.

Donaire is a regular on social media, posting updates about his training and fights.

This time, he focused solely on preparing for the fight.

“Before I had a lazy style of training, now we went back to old style and incorporated long-distance running into the regimen,” he added.