MANILA, Philippines—Nonito Donaire opted to take a day off from sparring and instead work the bags five weeks before the defense of his WBC bantamweight title against fellow Filipino Reymart Gaballo in California.
The 38-year-old posted on YouTube his recent workout as he focused on his combinations and tried to improve both his power and speed on the bags.
Pacing himself more than a month before the bout, Donaire has already logged three eight-round sparring sessions.
“Nonito has already logged three eight-rounds of sparring and he decided to take a day off from sparring and focus on movement and power against someone he can’t hit back,” posted his official Facebook page.
Donaire (41-6) is making the first defense of his newly-won title, which he wrested from Nordine Oubaali via fourth round knockout in May, against the undefeated Gaballo, who holds a 24-0 record, on December 11.
Gaballo, who also has 20 knockouts to his name, defeated Emmanuel Rodriguez via split decision in December 2020 to become the interim WBC champion and become the mandatory challenger to Donaire.