Donaire will receive a major award for pro boxing during the PSA rites at the Manila Hotel tomorrow night. He won’t be the only Filipino fighter to be cited. Manny Pacquiao will be proclaimed “Athlete of the Decade” while Rodel Mayol, Brian Viloria, Marvin Sonsona and Donnie Nietes – who all held world titles last year – will join Donaire as recipients of the pro boxing award.
“It’s an honor to be with the country’s best athletes in an event organized by the PSA,” said Donaire. “This is an award I will cherish because it comes from the sports media.”
Donaire flew to Manila a few days after retaining his WBA belt via a third round stoppage of Mexico’s Manuel (Chango) Vargas in Las Vegas last Feb. 13. He came with his wife Rachel and her father Gerry Marcial.
Last Thursday, Donaire went to Cebu to visit stricken fighter Z Gorres. He made good on his promise to give Gorres a share of his purse for the Vargas fight. Donaire and his wife put out P350,000 for Gorres.
When Donaire fought Vargas, Gorres and his wife Datches were at ringside with tickets provided by the Filipino Flash.
“It was an emotional reunion,” said Donaire. “Z and Datches were in tears. So were Rachel and I. We’ve been blessed by God and it’s only right that we share our blessings with Z and his family. It’s not that we have millions. We don’t. A large chunk of my purse went to taxes and the guys on my team. But we wanted to show Z how much we care for him. He has lost his means of livelihood as he can no longer fight. We plan to continue supporting Z. When we come back to the Philippines, we’ll bring clothes and shoes for his four children.”
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Donaire will leave for the US on March 10 to start training for his next fight set May 8 in Mexico. While no opponent has been named, Donaire speculated that it will probably be former US Olympian Eric Morel who recently beat Gerry Peñalosa in a WBO bantamweight title eliminator.
Morel earned the right to challenge WBO bantamweight champion Fernando Montiel with the win over Penalosa but found himself holding an empty bag when the Mexican decided to battle WBC titleholder Hozumi Hasegawa instead at the Nihon Budokan in Tokyo on April 30. Montiel is coming off a first round knockout win over Filipino Ciso Morales on the same card where Donaire trounced Vargas. It will be Hasegawa’s 11th defense of the WBC crown in the unification showdown.
Donaire said the fight against Morel should draw a lot of interest in Mexico even if neither protagonist is from the country. Morel fought for the US in the Olympics but is Puerto Rican.
“They want to hold the fight on neutral grounds,” said Donaire. “The winner of my fight against Morel or whomever the promoters sign up will advance to face the winner of the Montiel-Hasegawa bout. So I’m on track for a shot at another world title this year.”
Donaire said his showing against Vargas displayed his vast arsenal.
“I’ve got a lot of weapons now,” he said. “I stopped (Vic) Darchinyan with a left hook. I got (Raul) Martinez with a right. I finished off Vargas with a left uppercut. Both my hands are weapons. I can attack with an overhand right and a right straight, too. I can switch to southpaw if it’s necessary. As for my team, I’m sticking with Robert Garcia, Jonathan Penalosa and my conditioning coach Mike Bazzel in my corner.”
Donaire cited Garcia’s contributions in preparing for Vargas. Garcia, who trains fighters at the converted firehouse La Colonia Gym in Oxnard, near Los Angeles, was once an IBF superfeatherweight champion.
“Robert is a great strategist,” said Donaire. “He came in last January to visit my camp at Undisputed in San Carlos . We worked on a gameplan with Jonathan. He gave me solid advice. Two weeks before the fight, we hooked up. His two world champions Brian Viloria and Steven Luevano had just lost so he was feeling down. He’s a super nice guy and he’s really close to his fighters like they’re brothers. He was very happy after I knocked out Vargas and gave me a big hug in the ring.”
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Regarding Viloria’s recent loss to Carlos Tamara, Donaire said it was a heartbreaker.
“I think Brian did well,” said Donaire. “He started really great and if he was able to hold on, he might have pulled off the win. I hear people accusing Tamara of taking steroids but that’s just not right. People have to understand that when a fighter sees his opponent getting weaker, they get a sudden burst of energy to finish the fight, that there is hope. Tamara did just that when he sensed Brian was in trouble. But Brian made a good showing.”
Asked if there was too much pressure on Viloria to score a spectacular win, Donaire said he couldn’t tell.
“Only Brian can answer that,” said Donaire. “It’s crazy to see thousands of people when you walk into that ring but every person is different. They deal with pressure differently.”
Rachel said the news of Viloria proposing to his long-time girlfriend Erika Navarro last Christmas had nothing to do with the setback.
“Nonito and I were never in that situation,” said Rachel. “He proposed four months before his scheduled Dubai fight. When that was called off in April 2008, we focused on the wedding. I do remember having to consult with him about invites, dresses, the guest list, budget and practically everything else. So it can get very stressful. I heard Brian made a very sweet video for Erika during his training period. That’s impressive because I can’t even get Nonito to bring the basket down the stairs for me during training.”
Rachel said the combination of cutting weight and having to smile through interviews, guest appearances on TV and late night events can be exhausting.
No doubt, Donaire is establishing himself as a hero in and out of the ring.
Former WBC secretary-general Rudy Salud recently lauded Donaire for his progress.
“He was very impressive against Vargas,” said Salud. “It’s too bad he’s not getting the global recognition he deserves because the big name fighters don’t want to face him. That’s not his fault.
I know Donaire wants to fight the best out there to prove himself. He’d be willing to fight even Muhammad Ali in his prime. But he’s young. He’s got time. He reminds me of Manny Pacquiao in the ring because they’re both busybodies. You can sense that he likes to fight, that he doesn’t consider it a job, just like Manny. That’s a positive point for Donaire. What makes him special is the way he executes in the ring. His shots are clean, very precise and strong. He’s definitely on the way to win more world titles.”
Source: Joaquin Henson | Philstar.com
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