Final Press Conference for Donaire vs Rigondeaux. Photo Credit: Chris Farina / Top Rank
NEW YORK CITY—“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.
Donaire and Garcia earlier picked up their awards as 2012 Fighter of the Year and Trainer of the Year Thursday night from the Boxing Writers Association of America at the grand, gilded Capitale ballroom in the Bowery neighborhood of Little Italy, one of this city’s architectural landmarks
“We all know that Rigo is a very exciting fighter and very dangerous also, but we got sparring partners who are great amateurs and we had a great training camp,” said Garcia, who doesn’t go fulltime in training camp with Donaire until the last few weeks before the fight.
Most often, he designates coaches Mike Bazzel and Brian Schwartz to oversee Donaire’s preparation up in Northern California.
Garcia, whose partnership with Donaire has produced four big victories for the Filipino Flash last year alone, predicted a “slow, strategic first few rounds” against the two-time Olympic champ.
“Rigo is a very smart and very talented fighter but Nonito is on a different level I believe,” said Garcia. “We’re just gonna take him into deep water.”
He added that while Donaire’s vaunted left hook will still be the weapon of choice, “he’s got a great right hand also and he used it against (Toshiaki) Nishioka. We are not focusing on one single punch, we are focusing on both hands and Nonito has tremendous power in both hands.”
Yet Garcia is not discounting the possibility of Rigondeaux dodging Donaire like what Argentine Omar Narvaez did in October 2011 at Madison Square Garden.
Donaire’s BWAA award marked only the second time that a Filipino won such distinction. Manny Pacquiao, the eight-time division world champion, won it three times (2006, 2008 and 2009).