Over the past decade, many bright and beloved public champions who were born in the Philippines have appeared in the professional boxing ring. One of such outstanding fighters is Nonito Donaire, a renowned athlete who has managed to win and defend several titles many times. We will talk about him in more detail in the article.
basic information
Nonito Donaire was born on November 16, 1982 in a city little known to the general public called Tagbilaran, located on the Philippine Islands. The athlete's height is 168 centimeters, and the arm span is 173 centimeters. The fighter is nicknamed the Philippine Flash. The boxer's current home is San Leandro, California, United States of America.
Lovers Career
Nonito Donaire entered the amateur ring square 76 times and came out the winner 68 times. In 1998, he managed to become the silver medalist of his homeland championship in a division of up to 90 pounds.
A year later, the athlete won first place at the Youth Olympic Games. At that tournament, he was able to defeat Manuel Perez, Date Nguyen and James Kirkland.
Going to the pros
The boxer's professional debut took place in early 2001. During the first few years of his career, he fought in several categories from 41 to 55 kilograms. The results of his battles were overwhelmingly positive for him, with the exception of only the second match, in which he unexpectedly lost to almost an unknown opponent named Rosendo Sanchez.
First titles
Already in the fifth battle, Nonito Donaire was able to win the WBO Asian Championship, but the belt was not awarded to the fighter. In 2005, the athlete defeated a very serious opponent in the person of the Colombian Ilido Julio. A year later, the Filipino defeated Karen Harutyunyan by a separate judicial decision and took away the belt of the North American champion in the second easiest division.
Sensational result
On July 7, 2007 Nonito went down one category below to meet with the then-current IBF World Champion Darchinyan. Even before the fight, the Armenian behaved very arrogantly when he spoke extremely impartially about the applicant on his official website, indicating that he would definitely knock out Donaire. However, the result of the battle very much shocked all the fans and received the status of “upset of the year”, and all because in the fifth round the Filipino literally destroyed Vakhtang with a blow to the jaw. The Armenian tried to get to his feet and continue the fight, but his gaze and the flowing blood from his nose signaled that the championship was irrevocably over.
Title defense
In late 2007, Nonito Donaire fought mandatory contender for the WBC belt, Luis Maldonado. The whole battle took place under the dictation of the Filipino, and at the end of the seventh round he was able to knock the Mexican out, but he managed to quickly get on the 4th. The outcome of the fight took place in round 8, when the champion literally brought down a hail of crazy blows on the challenger and scored him before a technical knockout.
Transition to the lightest division
At the end of 2010, Donaire publicly declassed the ex-world champion Vladimir Sidorenko. The fight lasted 4 rounds. Throughout the match, the Filipino had an undeniable advantage, which eventually transformed into a technical knockout of the Ukrainian.
Just two months later, Nonito held an important championship fight for himself with the owner of the WBC and WBO belts, Fernando Motiel. Already in the second three-minute period, the Mexican was knocked out. This fight received the title of “knockout of the year” according to experts of the magazine “Ring”.
Career in the second bantamweight
The results of Donaire’s fights in this category were also good for him, before meeting with the Cuban Guillermo Rigondo. But before that there were two significant victories. First, Vasquez Jr. was defeated in a very intense match, so the Filipino got the WBO champion belt. And then there was a triumph over Jeffrey Matebula, who at that time owned the IBF belt.
Offensive loss
In April 2013, Nonito met in the ring with Rigondo. In that duel, several belts immediately stood at stake: WBO, WBA, The Ring. Despite all the forecasts of respected experts and the public, the battle nevertheless ended not in favor of the Filipino. And this despite the fact that the Cuban knocked down during the fight in the eleventh round. Nevertheless, after all the allotted 12 three-minute bouts, the judges gave the victory to Guillermo.
Career continuation
After the defeat of Rigondo, Donaire won two fights and lost again, but to the Jamaican Nicholas Walters. Moreover, this defeat was premature, which was an even greater surprise. Next, the Filipino gave a series of four victories, after which he again lost. His offender was the American Jesse Magdaleno.
On September 23, 2017, Nonito, whose boxing weight has always fluctuated between different categories, triumphantly returned to the ring. In a stubborn duel, he was able to defeat Mexican Ruben Garcia Hernandez and thereby won the vacant WBC Silver title. To do this, Doner needed to spend all 10 rounds.