Nonito Donaire: You Can't Sit Down and Win

Published

11 years ago

April 11, 2013

If there’s one thing Nonito Donaire has learned over these past 13 years, it’s that you can’t stand tall if you’re sitting down. Nor can you achieve your dreams if you become frustrated and simply give up on them.

Now 30, the “Filipino Flash” is at or near the pinnacle of a likely Hall of Fame boxing career that still appears to be on the ascent. Already a fixture on most experts’ pound-for-pound lists, Donaire (31-1, 20 KOs; seen in above Chris Farina-Top Rank photo) puts his WBO super bantamweight championship on the line against two-time Cuban Olympic gold medalist and WBA super bantam titlist Guillermo Rigondeaux (11-0, 8 KOs) Saturday night in New York’s iconic Radio City Music Hall. Should he add Rigondeaux’s strap in the much-anticipated 122-pound unification showdown, Donaire – coming off a stellar 2012 in which he was named Fighter of the Year by the Boxing Writers Association of America, ESPN, Yahoo!Sports, Sports Illustrated and several boxing web sites, including (along with co-winner Robert Guerrero), thesweetscience.com – he could put himself in the early mix to become only the third boxer to win back-to-back BWAA awards. The others? Muhammad Ali, Evander Holyfield and Manny Pacquiao.

“Growing up, there were times I was made fun of and bullied,” Donaire, who emigrated with his family from his native Philippines to San Leandro, Calif., in 1994, said in an exclusive interview with TSS. “There were hardships I went through. It’s just amazing to me to think about where I am now. And I want to go even further. I need to keep reaching for the top.”

But all the good things that have come to Donaire in recent years, not the least of which is the baby boy (he’ll be named Jarel Michael) he and his wife Rachel are expecting in July, might have been put on hold – or worse – had the bitter disappointment of what happened at the 2000 U.S. Olympic Boxing Trials continued to fester.

After Nonito and his older brother Glenn both lost disputed, computer-scored decisions to the favored Brian Viloria in Tampa, Fla., a decision was made – a decision reportedly pushed for by the Donaires’ coach, Robert Salinas – for the brothers to stage an in-ring sitdown strike rather than for Glenn to proceed with a 106-pound losers’ bracket bout with Karoz Norman. Had Glenn, who was favored in that matchup, won, he would have faced Nonito for a berth against Viloria, the Trials winner, in the Box-offs in Mashantucket, Conn.

Taking part in the sitdown strike, which lasted about five minutes, were Salinas, Nonito Donaire Sr., Glenn, family friend Jaquin Gallardo and Nonito, who was all of 17 and even then wondering why he had agreed to participate.

“I was naïve at that time,” the WBO 122-pound ruler recalled. “Whoever led me to make that decision, my brother and I went along because we were convinced that no matter what we did, there was no way for us to come out ahead. Neither Glenn nor I was the `Chosen One.’ Viloria (the defending world amateur champion in his weight class and USA Boxing’s Fighter of the Year) was.

“But now, if I could go back, I would have kept fighting, kept trying. I’ve learned a lot since then. I learned it’s always better to at least try no matter how big your obstacle is. That knowledge helped make me who and what I am now.”

That realization was slow to dawn on a teenager who felt, with some justification, that he and his brother – Glenn is three years older – had been the victims of a flawed amateur boxing system that was stacked against no-names such as themselves. Nonito walked away from boxing, with the intention of never tugging on the gloves again.

“The politics of amateur boxing discouraged me to the point where for a while I really didn’t care about it,” he told me in 2009. “I was offered a spot at Northern Michigan University (where the U.S. Olympic Education Center is located) and a chance to compete for the 2004 U.S. Olympic team, but I was really down on the sport at that point. My idea was to forget about boxing and to go to school. I actually did quit boxing for a year or so.

“Then I saw Dre (Andre Ward, the USA’s last Olympic gold medalist in boxing, in 2004, and currently the WBA/WBC super middleweight champion) and he got me back into it. He and some other people made me realize I had the talent to still achieve something.”

It was a fortuitous moment in Donaire’s life pretty much along the lines of a music teacher telling little Yo Yo Ma, hey, you might want to stick with those cello lessons. When you have the talent of a virtuoso, you don’t throw it all away in an impulsive moment because you’re hissed off.

OK, so maybe Yo Yo Ma never wanted to stick his cello in the closet after a less-than-perfect recital. But the Donaires’ act of defiance, ill-advised though it might have been, now might be looked upon as a small brick in the road toward change that has resulted in the scrapping of the hated computer scoring system and other reforms instituted by AIBA and USA Boxing’s new president, Dr. Charles Butler. One can only speculate how it all might have turned out for the Donaires, particularly the more gifted Nonito, had all the changes been in effect in 2000.

“I’m happy they went back to the old-school way of doing things,” Nonito said of the much-needed makeover of the amateur boxing establishment. “You can’t change judges’ opinions, of course. You’re still going to get curious decisions, just like you get sometimes in the pros. But at least they’re finally getting rid of that ridiculous scoring system that held so many guys back. What people are going to see now is more of what I consider to be real boxing, and that can’t help but be a good thing.”

No American boxer was expected to shine more in Tampa in 2000 than Viloria, but many ringside media types felt that the wrong guy came out ahead in the 10-5 nod he got over Glenn, and that impression was intensified after Nonito dropped an 8-6 decision to Viloria, a fellow Filipino-American. In the third round of that bout, Nonito appeared to score with four or five clean jabs in the center of the ring, but somehow was credited with just one point.

“I think the big thing is that I was an unknown who wasn’t really expected to do anything at the Trials,” he said. “I was not being groomed for stardom. I was the short-notice guy, the guy who was supposed to lose.”

Of the sitdown strike, Salinas said, “None of the other people have enough courage to do this. We know this is the wrong way (to make a point), but we needed to do something. (USA Boxing) has a select few and there’s no way to beat them, so why try? If we lose fairly, fine. But if we lose because of politics, that is something else.”

Gary Toney, then the USA Boxing president, called the sitdown strike “tragic,” adding that “As far as I’m concerned, (the Donaire brothers) were given very poor advice by their coach. One of them probably would have advanced to the Box-offs and would have had a chance to make the Olympic team. Why would anyone want to deny a kid that opportunity?”

Nonito still feels he deserved the victory over Viloria he was denied, but he believes the real tragedy would have been had he never come back from his self-imposed exile.

“It’s not that I think about it all the time, but I kind of have a clue as to how things might have been for me if I hadn’t gone back to boxing,” he said. “I wouldn’t have fulfilled all of my dreams that are now coming true, that’s for sure. I always strive for the best, to be the best, but how can you do that if you just give up on something? I’m glad I chose boxing again. I couldn’t let it end that way.”

Perhaps, in retrospect, there were some benefits to Nonito taking some time off to clear his head and to rededicate himself to what he did best. He was a pure boxer as an amateur, a stick-and-move type with little apparent power, but when he turned pro on Feb. 22, 2001, with a first-round knockout of Jose Lazaro, he showed considerably more pop in his punches. Never was his newfound strength more evident than on July 7, 2007, when he wrested the IBF flyweight title from Vic Darchinyan on as emphatic a one-punch takeout as you’ll ever see. That left hook in the fifth round might have made Joe Frazier smile in approval. Maybe that part of Donaire’s development would have been put on hold had he stuck around to try for the 2004 Olympics.

“The power came out of desperation,” Donaire said. “I began to understand the way my body moves, because of the speed I always had. My speed became my power. And, to tell the truth, I was kind of afraid to get hit in the amateurs. That’s why I always boxed. I got pretty good at it.”

Viloria, of course, has gone on to have a fine pro career in his own right. He lost his WBA and WBO flyweight titles to Juan Estrada, on a split decision, on April 6 in Macao, China. He and Donaire cross paths occasionally, but the subject of their Olympic Trials bout never comes up.

“When I fought in the Philippines (a fourth-round stoppage of Raul Martinez on April 19, 2009), Brian was on the undercard,” Donaire said. “We talked some, but not about that. What happened in 2000 is in the past. It was a growing-up process for me. Whenever I see him now, it’s, like, `Hey, how are you doing? What’s up?’”

What’s up is Nonito Donaire’s status as an emerging superstar in the sport he once considered abandoning. It’s been a long, strange journey from there to here, but maybe that makes arrival at the final destination all the more satisfying.

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Bernard Fernandez

Canelo vs Berlanga Battles the UFC: Hopefully No Repeat of the 2019 Fiasco

Published

2 days ago

September 9, 2024

Arne K. Lang

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If one happens to be fan of both traditional boxing and MMA, then one has a choice to make this Saturday. Canelo Alvarez will be in action at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas defending his lineal 168-pound world title against Edgar Berlanga and two miles away in a competing Pay-Per-View card, the first-ever sporting event will be staged inside The Sphere, a UFC card bearing the title Riyadh Season Noche 306.

This won’t be the first time that a boxing card featuring the red-headed Mexican superstar went head-to-head with a UFC event. On Nov. 2, 2019, Canelo Alvarez fought Sergey Kovalev at the T-Mobile and 2,500 miles away, MMA stars Nate Diaz and Jorge Masvidal locked horns at Madison Square Garden. Both cards were PPV. Alvarez vs Kovalev was live-streamed on DAZN; Diaz vs Masvidal on ESPN+.

We don’t know which event generated the most profit, but the way things played out, this was a symbolic win for the UFC. On this night, the venerable sport of boxing and its adherents were reduced to a second-class citizen.

The fault lay with the nitwits at DAZN. They thought it prudent to postpone the start of Alvarez-Kovalev until the Diaz-Masdival fight was finished. What resulted was an interlude that dragged on for a good 90 minutes after Ryan Garcia knocked out Romero Duno in 98 seconds in the semi-wind-up. Then came the ring walks, the National Anthems (there were three), and the long-winded introduction of the combatants. When the bell finally sounded to signify the start of the bout, it was 10:18 inside the arena and 1:18 am for the bleary-eyed folks tuning in back in the Eastern Time Zone. The backlash was fierce.

The competing shows this coming Saturday coincide with Mexican Independence Day Weekend. One might assume that this will give the PBC promotion at the T-Mobile a leg up as Canelo Alvarez is a must-see attraction within the Mexican and Mexican-American communities. However, the UFC card has something going for it that T-Mobile lacks. The venue is itself an allurement. The newest addition to the Las Vegas skyline, The Sphere has the WOW factor. Even long-time Las Vegas locals, supposedly jaded by a surfeit of architectural wonders, are mesmerized by the constantly changing light show on the exterior of the big globe. Inside, visitors will find the world’s highest resolution LED display.

Customizing the interior for UFC 306 was an expensive proposition. UFC honcho Dana White has pegged the cost at $20 million and concedes that without Saudi money it would not have been feasible. He says that Saturday’s show will be “one-off,” not merely the first combat sports event at The Sphere, but also the last because it would be too expensive to replicate. If that be true, attendees are advised to keep their ticket stubs. Years from now, they might command a nice price in the sports memorabilia marketplace.

The T-Mobile has Canelo, but The Sphere has Alexa Grasso who, akin to Canelo, hails from Guadalajara. Ms. Grasso, 31, just may be the second-most-well-known fighter in Mexico. In addition to holding the UFC flyweight title, she is an analyst for the UFC’s Spanish-language broadcasts.

Grasso will be defending her belts against Russia’s Valentina Shevshenko in the co-main. In the featured bout, bantamweight belt-holder Sean O’Malley will defend his title against Merab Dvalishvili.

The T-Mobile card on Prime Video comes with a suggested list price of $89.99 for U.S. buyers without a Prime Video account. That tab has been widely assailed as a rip-off. “It’s gouging fight fans, plain and simple,” says Kevin Iole who covered both boxing and MMA for Yahoo. (For the record, the UFC show on ESPN+ comes with a list price of $79.99, $10 cheaper if bundled with an ESPN+ subscription. The UFC folks are holding their breath that the event can be translated to the small screen without compromising the clarity of the picture. The logistics are daunting.)

The main bouts on the UFC card will be far more competitive based on the prevailing odds, but when it comes to combat sports, this reporter is a traditionalist. Agreed, that can be interpreted as an old fuddy-duddy stuck in his ways, but in my eyes boxing, a sport that rests on a far more arresting historic foundation, trumps the Johnny-come-lately that is the UFC.

Check back later this week as TSS West Coast Bureau Chief David A. Avila offers up a closer look at Alvarez vs Berlanga and some of the supporting bouts.

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Niyomtrong Proves a Bridge Too Far for Alex Winwood in Australia

Published

4 days ago

September 7, 2024

Arne K. Lang

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Today in Perth, Australia, Alex Winwood stepped up in class in his fifth pro fight with the aim of becoming the fastest world title-holder in Australian boxing history. But Winwood (4-0, 2 KOs heading in) wasn’t ready for WBA strawweight champion Thammanoon Niyomtrong, aka Knockout CP Freshmart, who by some accounts is the longest reigning champion in the sport.

Niyomtrong (25-0, 9 KOs) prevailed by a slim margin to retain his title. “At least the right guy won,” said prominent Australian boxing writer Anthony Cocks who thought the scores (114-112, 114-112, 113-113) gave the hometown fighter all the best of it.

Winwood, who represented Australia in the Tokyo Olympics, trained for the match in Thailand (as do many foreign boxers in his weight class). He is trained by Angelo Hyder who also worked with Danny Green and the Moloney twins. Had he prevailed, he would have broken the record of Australian boxing icon Jeff Fenech who won a world title in his seventh pro fight. A member of the Noongar tribe, Winwood, 27, also hoped to etch on his name on the list of notable Australian aboriginal boxers alongside Dave Sands, Lionel Rose and the Mundines, Tony and Anthony, father and son.

What Winwood, 27, hoped to capitalize on was Niyomtrong’s theoretical ring rust. The Thai was making his first start since July 20 of 2022 when he won a comfortable decision over Wanheng Menayothin in one of the most ballyhooed domestic showdowns in Thai boxing history. But the Noongar needed more edges than that to overcome the Thai who won his first major title in his ninth pro fight with a hard-fought decision over Nicaragua’s Carlos Buitrago who was 27-0-1 heading in.

A former Muai Thai champion, Niyomtrong/Freshmart turns 34 later this month, an advanced age for a boxer in the sport’s smallest weight class. Although he remains undefeated, he may have passed his prime. How good was he in his heyday? Prominent boxing historian Matt McGrain has written that he was the most accomplished strawweight in the world in the decade 2010-2019: “It is not close, it is not debatable, there is no argument.”

Against the intrepid Winwood, Niyomtrong started slowly. In round seven, he cranked up the juice, putting the local fighter down hard with a left hook. He added another knockdown in round nine. The game Winwood stayed the course, but was well-beaten at the finish, no matter that the scorecards suggested otherwise, creating the impression of a very close fight.

P.S. – Because boxrec refused to name this a title fight, it fell under the radar screen until the result was made known. In case you hadn’t noticed, boxrec is at loggerheads with the World Boxing Association and has decided to “de-certify” the oldest of the world sanctioning bodies. While this reporter would be happy to see the WBA disappear – it is clearly the most corrupt of the four major organizations – the view from here is that boxrec is being petty. Moreover, if this practice continues, it will be much harder for boxing historians of future generations to sort through the rubble.

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Avila Perspective, Chap. 295: Callum Walsh, Pechanga Casino Fights and More

Published

5 days ago

September 6, 2024

David A. Avila

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Super welterweight contender Callum Walsh worked out for reporters and videographers at the Wild Card Gym in Hollywood, Calif. on Thursday,

The native of Ireland Walsh (11-0, 9 KOs) has a fight date against Poland’s Przemyslaw Runowski (22-2-1, 6 KOs) on Friday, Sept. 20 at the city of Dublin. It’s a homecoming for the undefeated southpaw from Cork. UFC Fight Pass will stream the 360 Promotions card.

Mark down the date.

Walsh is the latest prodigy of promoter Tom Loeffler who has a history of developing European boxers in America and propelling them forward on the global boxing scene. Think Gennady “Triple G” Golovkin and you know what I mean.

Golovkin was a middleweight monster for years.

From Kevin Kelley to Oba Carr to Vitaly Klitschko to Serhii Bohachuk and many more in-between, the trail of elite boxers promoted by Loeffler continues to grow. Will Walsh be the newest success?

Add to the mix Dana White, the maestro of UFC, who is also involved with Walsh and you get a clearer picture of what the Irish lad brings to the table.

Walsh has speed, power and a glint of meanness that champions need to navigate the prizefighting world. He also has one of the best trainers in the world in Freddie Roach who needs no further introduction.

Perhaps the final measure of Walsh will be when he’s been tested with the most important challenge of all:

Can he take a punch from a big hitter?

That’s the final challenge

It always comes down to the chin. It’s what separates the Golovkins from the rest of the pack. At the top of the food chain they all can hit, have incredible speed and skill, but the fighters with the rock hard chins are those that prevail.

So far, the chin test is the only examination remaining for Walsh.

“King’ Callum Walsh is ready for his Irish homecoming and promises some fireworks for the Irish fans. This will be an entertaining show for the fans and we are excited to bring world class boxing back to the 3Arena in Dublin,” said Loeffler.

Pechanga Fights

MarvNation Promotions presents a battle between welterweight contenders Jose “Chon” Zepeda (37-5, 28 KOs) and Ivan Redkach (24-7-1, 19 KOs) on Friday, Sept. 6, at Pechanga Resort and Casino in Temecula. DAZN will stream the fight card.

Both have fought many of the best welterweights in the world and now face each other. It should be an interesting clash between the veterans.

Also on the card, featherweights Nathan Rodriguez (15-0) and Bryan Mercado (11-5-1) meet in an eight-round fight.

Doors open at 6:30 p.m. First bout at 7 p.m.

Monster Inoue

Once again Japan’s Naoya Inoue dispatched another super bantamweight contender with ease as TJ Doheny was unable to continue in the seventh round after battered by a combination on Tuesday in Tokyo.

Inoue continues to brush away whoever is placed in front of him like a glint of dust.

Is the “Monster” the best fighter pound-for-pound on the planet or is it Terence Crawford? Both are dynamic punchers with skill, speed, power and great chins.

Munguia in Big Bear

Super middleweight contender Jaime Munguia is two weeks away from his match with Erik Bazinyan at the Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona. ESPN will show the Top Rank card.

“Erik Bazinyan is a good fighter. He’s undefeated. He switches stances. We need to be careful with that. He’s taller and has a longer reach than me. He has a good jab. He can punch well on the inside. He’s a fighter who comes with all the desire to excel,” said Munguia.

Bazinyan has victories over Ronald Ellis and Alantez Fox.

In case you didn’t know, Munguia moved over to Top Rank but still has ties with Golden Boy Promotions and Zanfer Promotions. Bazinyan is promoted by Eye of the Tiger.

This is the Tijuana fighter’s first match with Top Rank since losing to Saul “Canelo” Alvarez last May in Las Vegas. He is back with trainer Erik Morales.

Callum Walsh photo credit: Lina Baker

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