Nonito Donaire says “I’m the Knockout Guy in This Fight”

Published

5 years ago

September 27, 2019

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Japanese sensation Naoya Inoue and Nonito Donaire clash on Nov. 7 in suburban Tokyo at the Saitama Super Arena in the bantamweight finals of the World Boxing Super Series. At stake are WBA and IBF world title belts and the coveted Muhammad Ali Trophy. Inoue, nicknamed “Monster,” is a heavy favorite.

Nonito Donaire, who turns 38 the week after the fight, has won world titles in four weight classes: 112, 118, 122, and 127. Some day in the future he will, almost assuredly, be enshrined in the International Boxing Hall of Fame. But – and although he has been stopped only once in 45 fights, that as a featherweight – hardly anyone likes his chances to stay upright on Nov. 7.

To say that Naoya Inoue has been impressive in his recent outings would be an understatement. His last three fights against title-holders Jamie McDonnell, Juan Carlos Payano, and Emmanuel Rodriguez lasted only six minutes and 21 seconds in the aggregate. None of the three had been stopped before. Payano and Rodriguez had never been dropped.

The noted Scottish boxing historian Matt McGrain has been unstinting in his praise. “The pathology of his violence is exquisite,” said McGrain of Inoue in a story that ran on these pages. “He is a watching, waiting, learning doom-machine that appears to have been programmed by Carlos Zarate.” (Note: Zarate scored 63 knockouts in his 70-bout career.)

Inoue’s triumph over Payano, which took him all of 70 seconds, was feted by a cover story in The Ring magazine, making the baby-faced assassin the first Japanese fighter to appear on the magazine’s cover in the 119-year history of that august publication. If Inoue (18-0, 16 KOs) can reprise the wow factor vs. Donaire, he will likely be named the 2019 Fighter of the Year in all the year-end polls – unless Andy Ruiz can repeat his upset of Anthony Joshua, in which case the voters will have a thorny dilemma.

Nonito Donaire, the Filipino Flash, is nonplussed. A pro since 2001, Donaire (40-5, 26 KOs) is confident that he can derail the Inoue Express.

“People seem to have forgotten that I have a knockout punch too,” says Donaire. “In my mind, if knockouts are going to be the theme of the promotion, I should get top billing.”

Indeed, he certainly does have a knockout punch. His brutal knockouts of Vic Darchinyan in 2007 and Fernando Montiel in 2011 were named Knockout of the Year by the aforementioned The Ring. And his knockout of late sub Stephon Young in his most recent start is a candidate for that honor again. In the sixth round of their fight in Lafayette, Louisiana, Donaire knocked Young out cold with a thunderous left hook.

Donaire may have gotten a break when his second-round opponent Zolani Tete was forced to withdraw with a shoulder injury, but it’s worth noting that he was the underdog going into this tournament. Top seed Ryan Burnett had his pick of the four unseeded entrants and chose Donaire, effectively making Donaire the eighth seed of an eight-man tournament.

Donaire could see the logic. The undefeated (19-0) Burnett, reportedly 94-4 as an amateur, was the younger man by almost 10 years. Donaire would be coming down in weight; almost seven years had elapsed since he had last fought as a bantamweight. His recent showings, he readily admitted, were lackluster. He was outpointed by Jessie Magdaleno and Carl Frampton in fights spaced 17 months apart. And finally, the fight would be in Glasgow, a regional site advantage for Burnett, an Irishman from Belfast.

In the fourth round, Burnett took a knee after apparently suffering a lower back injury after throwing a right hand. He retired on his stool after that round and was stretchered out of the ring. The conventional version is that he suffered a freak injury and Nonito is perfectly fine with that narrative. “People are entitled to their opinion,” he says nonchalantly.

Outside the ring, Donaire isn’t a fighter, but the same can’t be said for his manager who is insistent that Burnett’s injury was caused by a body punch and that Burnett was stretchered out of the ring to save face, thereby denying her husband his proper due.

Yes, Donaire’s manager happens to be the woman that he sleeps with, the mother of their two children, boys aged six and four. She’s not only his manager, but his strength and conditioning coach. “She pretty much runs everything,” says Donaire. “She’s 99 percent the boss.”

Nonito Donaire was born in the Philippines in the same town where Manny Pacquiao was born, the third youngest of four children. His parents left him and one of his siblings with his grandparents when they migrated to the United States, sending for them as soon as his father, a welder, could afford their passage. He arrived in the U.S. at the age of 10 and grew into adulthood in San Leandro, a community on the east side of the San Francisco Bay.

Donaire won his first title in 2007 with his explosive knockout of Darchinyan. Later that year, at a Bay Area club, he met Rachel Marcial, his future wife. She had spent five years in the U.S. Air Force and was a big name in the sport of Taekwondo, having won numerous military and civilian titles. Since 2011, their primary home has been in Las Vegas.

Rachel Marcial Donaire doesn’t fit the stereotype of a female prizefighter with a military background. In 2012, the pert Filipina-American was named the 38^th sexiest woman on the planet in the Filipino edition of the popular international men’s magazine FHM in their annual listing of the 100 sexiest women in the world. As power couples in boxing go, Nonito and Rachel are the second-most “paparazzi-ed” in the Philippines, trailing only Senator Manny and Jinkee.

Rachel

Rachel (pictured on the far right beside her husband at a Tokyo press conference) believes her Air Force background was hugely advantageous in preparing her for her role as the boss of Team Donaire. “It helped me to be very good at having an attention to detail, not letting things slide. Especially with Nonito’s camp, we have become a very efficient team because of the way I was brought through in the military,” she told David Kelly, a writer for the Belfast Telegraph.

Beginning with his father, Nonito has had several boxing coaches over the years. For a time, he was with the Cuban globetrotter Ismael Salas. That didn’t work out and now he’s with old salt Kenny Adams who is perhaps best known as the head trainer of the 1988 U.S. Olympic boxing team that won eight medals in Seoul. Nonito’s relationship with his father has been rocky at times, but things are now copacetic and dad will be in the corner with Adams on Nov. 7.

Earlier this week, this reporter attended a workout by Donaire held behind a closed curtain at the City Boxing Club in Las Vegas. It was a vigorous workout with few dead moments that included a zesty sparring session with South African toughie DeeJay Kriel. Later that afternoon, Donaire had another workout scheduled at a park that involved exercises customized for him by Rachel, a certified fitness instructor. One doubts that even professional triathletes are as well-conditioned.

Team Donaire shifts its training camp to the Philippines on Oct. 18. (Tokyo is 16 hours ahead of Las Vegas but only one hour ahead of Manila, an important consideration.) Then it’s off to Japan for the bout that will be contested in that nation’s largest indoor stadium. The promoters, say Rachel, anticipate a crowd somewhat north of 20,000.

Regardless of the outcome, Donaire says he has no plans to retire any time soon. “This division (118) is where I belong,” he says. “It’s always where I felt most comfortable. I love boxing and I am very healthy.”

Inoue vs. Donaire will air live in North America on DAZN. The odds are skewed heavily in favor of the local guy, but it’s yet a very compelling fight.

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Arne K. Lang

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Avila Perspective, Chap. 289: East LA, Claressa Shields and More

Published

1 day ago

July 25, 2024

David A. Avila

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Avila Perspective, Chap. 289: East LA, Claressa Shields and More

East Los Angeles has long been a haven for some of the best fighters around if you can keep them out of trouble. For every Oscar De La Hoya or Seniesa Estrada there are thousands derailed by crime, drugs or drinking.

Boxing has always been a favorite sport of East L.A. Every family has an uncle or two who boxes.

On Friday, 360 Promotions’ Omar Trinidad (15-0-1) fights Viktor Slavinskyi (15-2-1) in the main event at Commerce Casino, in Commerce, CA. UFC Fight Pass will stream the fight card.

The City of Commerce used to be part of East L.A. until 1960 when it incorporated. It’s still considered to be part of East Los Angeles, but informally.

Plenty of fighters come out of East L.A. but few make it all the way like De La Hoya and Estrada. Will Trinidad be the one?

The first world champion from East L.A. or “East Los” as some call it, was Solly Garcia Smith back in the late 1800s. Others were Richie Lemos, Art Frias and Joey Olivo. There is also 1984 Olympic gold medalist Paul Gonzalez.

Once again 360 Promotions brings its popular brand of fights to the area. On this fight card includes two female bouts. One features Roxy Verduzco (1-0) the former amateur star fighting Colleen Davis (3-1-1) in a featherweight fight.

All that action takes place on Friday.

Elite Boxing

The next day, also in East L.A., Elite Boxing stages another boxing card at Salesian High School located at 960 S. Soto Street in the Boyle Heights area of East Los Angeles.

Elite Boxing has promoted several successful boxing cards at the Catholic high school grounds. The area is saturated by many of the best eateries in Los Angeles. Don’t take my word for it. Check it out yourself and grab some of that delicious food.

Boxing has long been a favorite sport of anyone who lives in East L.A. It’s a fight town equal to Philadelphia, Brooklyn or Detroit. There’s something different about the area. For more than 100 years some of the best fighters continue to come out of its boxing gyms. Some will be performing on these club shows.

For tickets or information go to www.eliteboxingusa.com

Claressa Shields in Detroit

Speaking of fight towns, pound-for-pound best Claressa Shields who won two Olympic Gold Medals in boxing, moves up another weight division to tackle the WBC heavyweight world champion Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse on Saturday, July 27, at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, Michigan.

DAZN will stream the heavy-duty fight card.

Shields (14-0) cleaned out the super welterweight, middleweight and super middleweight divisions and now wants to add the big girls to her conquests. She will be facing Canada’s Lepage-Joanisse (7-1) who holds the WBC belt.

The last time Shields gloved up was more than a year ago when she fought Maricela Cornejo. Don’t blame Shields. She loves to fight. She loves to win. The last time Shields lost a fight was in the amateurs and that was three presidential administrations ago.

Shields doesn’t lose.

I wonder if Las Vegas even takes bets on her fights?

The only fight she may have been an underdog was against Savannah Marshall who was the last opponent to defeat her. And that was in 2012 in China. When they met as pros two years ago, Shields avenged her loss with a blistering attack.

Don’t get Shields mad.

Perhaps her toughest foe as a pro was in her pro debut when she clashed with Franchon Crews-Dezurn in Las Vegas. It was four rounds of fists and fury as the two pounded each other on the undercard of Andre Ward and Sergey Kovalev in November 2016.

That was a ferocious debut for both female pugilists.

Assisting Shields on this fight card will be several intriguing male bouts. One guy you should pay special attention is Tito Mercado (15-0, 14 KOs) a super lightweight prospect from Pomona, California.

Many excellent fighters have come out of Pomona including Sugar Shane Mosley, Shane Mosley Jr., Alberto Davila and Richie Sandoval who just passed away this week.

Sandoval was best known for his 15-round war with Philadelphia’s Jeff Chandler for the bantamweight world title in 1984. Read the story by Arne K. Lang on this link: https://tss.ib.tv/boxing/featured-boxing-articles-boxing-news-videos-rankings-and-results/81467-former-world-bantamweight-champion-richie-sandoval-passes-away-at-age-63 .

Fights to Watch

Fri. UFC Fight Pass 7 p.m. Omar Trinidad (15-0-1) vs Viktor Slavinskyi (15-2-1).

Sat. ESPN+ 12:30 p.m. Joe Joyce (16-2) vs Derek Chisora (34-13).

Sat. DAZN 3 p.m. Claressa Shields (14-0) vs Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse (7-1), Michel Rivera (25-1) vs Hugo Roldan (22-2-1); Tito Mercado (15-0) vs Hector Sarmiento (21-2).

Omar Trinidad photo by Lina Baker

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Arne’s Almanac: Jake Paul and Women’s Boxing, a Curmudgeon’s Take

Published

2 days ago

July 24, 2024

Arne K. Lang

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Jake Paul can fight more than a little. The view from here is that he would make it interesting against any fringe contender in the cruiserweight division. However, Jake’s boxing acumen pales when paired against his skill as a flim-flam artist.

Jake brought a 9-1 record into last weekend’s bout with Mike Perry. As noted by boxing writer Paul Magno, Jake’s previous opponents consisted of “a You Tuber, a retired NBA star, five retired MMA stars, a part-time boxer/reality TV star, and two undersized and inactive fall-guy boxers.”

Mike Perry, a 32-year-old Floridian, was undefeated (6-0, 3 KOs) as a bare-knuckle boxer after forging a 14-8 record in UFC bouts. In pre-fight blurbs, Perry was billed as the baddest bare knuckle boxer of all time, but against Jake Paul he proved to have very unrefined skills as a conventional boxer which Team Paul undoubtedly knew all along. Perry lasted into the eighth round in a one-sided fight that could have been stopped a lot sooner.

Jake Paul is both a boxer and a promoter. As a promoter, he handles Amanda Serrano, one of the greatest female boxers in history. That makes him the person most responsible (because the buck stops with him) for the wretched mismatch in last Saturday’s co-feature, the bout between Serrano and Stevie Morgan.

Morgan, who took up boxing two years ago at age 33, brought a 14-1 record. Nicknamed the Sledgehammer, she had won 13 of her 14 wins by knockout, eight in the opening round. However, although she resides in Florida, all but one of those 13 knockouts happened in Colombia.

“We found that in Colombia there were just more opportunities for women’s boxing than in the United States,” she told a prominent boxing writer whose name we won’t mention.

The truth is that, for some folks, Colombia is the boxing equivalent of a feeder lot for livestock, a place where a boxer can go to fatten their record. The opportunities there were no greater than in Hot Springs, Arkansas, in 1995. It was there that Peter McNeeley prepped for his match with Mike Tyson with a 6-second knockout of professional punching bag Frankie Hines. (Six seconds? So it would be written although no one seems to have been there to witness it.)

Serrano vs Morgan was understood to be a stay-busy fight for Amanda whose rematch with Katie Taylor was postponed until November. Stevie Morgan, to her credit, answered the bell for the second round whereas others in her situation would have remained on the stool and invented an injury to rationalize it. Thirty-eight seconds later it was all over and Ms. Morgan was free to go home and use her sledgehammer to do some light dusting.

The Paul-Perry and Serrano-Morgan fights played out in a sold-out arena in Tampa before an estimated 17,000. Those without a DAZN subscription paid $64.95 for the livestream. Paul’s next promotion, where he will touch gloves with 58-year-old Mike Tyson (unless Iron Mike pulls a Joe Biden and pulls out; a capital idea) with Serrano-Taylor II the semi-main, will almost certainly rake in more money than any other boxing promotion this year.

Asked his opinion of so-called crossover boxing by a reporter for a college newspaper, the venerable boxing promoter Bob Arum said, “It’s not my bag but folks who don’t like it shouldn’t get too worked up over it because no one is stealing from anybody.” True enough, but for some of us, the phenomenon is distressing.

—

The next big women’s fight happens Saturday in Detroit where Claressa Shields seeks a world title in a third weight class against WBC heavyweight belt-holder Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse.

A two-time Olympic gold medalist, undefeated in 14 fights as a pro, Shields is very good, arguably the best female boxer of her generation which makes her, arguably, the best female boxer of all time. But turning away Lepage-Joanisse (7-1, 2 KOs) won’t elevate her stature in our eyes.

Purportedly 17-4 as an amateur, the Canadian won her title in her second crack at it. Back in August of 2017, she challenged Cancun’s Alejandra Jimenez in Cancun and was stopped in the third round. Entering the bout, Lepage-Joanisse was 3-0 as a pro and had never fought a match slated for more than four rounds.

Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse

True, on the women’s side, the heavyweight bracket is a very small pod. A sanctioning body has to make concessions to harness a sanctioning fee. Nonetheless, how absurd that a woman who had answered the bell for only 11 rounds would be deemed qualified to compete for a world title. (FYI: Alejandra Jimenez was purportedly born a man. She left the sport with a 12-0-1 record after her win over Franchon Crews Dazurn was changed to a no-contest when she tested positive for the banned steroid stanozolol.)

Following her defeat to Jimenez, Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse, now 29 years old, was out of action for six-and-a-half years. When she returned, she was still a heavyweight, but a much slender heavyweight. She carried 231 pounds for Jimenez. In her most recent bout where she captured the vacant WBC title with a split decision over Argentina’s Abril Argentina Vidal, she clocked in at 173 ¼. (On the distaff side, there’s no uniformity among the various sanctioning bodies as to what constitutes a heavyweight.)

Claressa Shields doesn’t need Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse to reinforce her credentials as a future Hall of Famer. She made the cut a long time ago.

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Former World Bantamweight Champion Richie Sandoval Passes Away at Age 63

Published

4 days ago

July 22, 2024

Arne K. Lang

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Richie Sandoval, who won the WBA and lineal bantamweight title in one of the biggest upsets of the 1980s and then, not quite two years later, suffered near-fatal injuries in a title defense, has passed away at the age of 63.

News circulated fast in the Las Vegas boxing community on Monday, July 22, the grapevine actuated by a tweet from Hall of Fame matchmaker Bruce Trampler: “Boxing and the Top Rank family lost one of our own last night in the passing of former WBA bantamweight champion Richie Sandoval. It hurts personally and professionally to know that Richie is gone at age 63. RIP campeon.”

Details are vague but the cause of death was apparently a sudden heart attack that Sandoval experienced while visiting the Southern California home of his son of the same name.

Richie Sandoval put the LA County community of Pomona, California, on the boxing map before Shane Mosley came along and gave the town a more frequently-cited mention in the sports section of the papers. He came from a fighting family. An older brother, Albert “Superfly” Sandoval, became a big draw at LA’s fabled Olympic Auditorium while building a 35-2-1 record that included a failed bid to capture Lupe Pintor’s world bantamweight title.

Richie was a member of the 1980 U.S. Olympic boxing team that was stranded when U.S. President Jimmy Carter (and many other world leaders) boycotted the event as a protest against Russia’s invasion of Afghanistan.

As a pro, Sandoval’s signature win was a 15^th-round stoppage of Jeff Chandler. They fought on April 7, 1984 in Atlantic City. Chandler was making the tenth defense of his world bantamweight title.

Despite being a heavy underdog, Sandoval dominated the fight, winning almost every round until the referee stepped in and waived it off. Chandler, who was 33-1-2 heading in and had avenged his lone defeat, never fought again.

Sandoval made two successful defenses before risking his title against Gaby Canizales on the undercard of Hagler-Mugabi in the outdoor stadium at Caesars Palace. In round seven, Sandoval, who had a hellish time making the weight, was knocked down three times and suffered a seizure as he collapsed from the third knockdown. Stretchered out of the ring, he was rushed to the hospital where doctors reduced the swelling in his brain and beat the odds to save his life. This would be Richie’s lone defeat. He finished his pro career with a record of 29-1 (17 KOs).

Bob Arum cushioned some of the pain by giving Richie a $25,000 bonus and offering him a lifetime job at Top Rank which Richie accepted. And let the record show that Arum was good to his word.

A more elaborate portrait of Richie Sandoval was published in these pages in 2017. You can check it out HERE. May he rest in peace.

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