Donaire vows to ‘be like water’ against Vetyeka

Ryan Songalia

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'Rather than being controlled by the motion, I want to be just one flow with my body,' says Donaire as he prepares to challenge WBA featherweight champ Simpiwe Vetyeka

ENTER THE DRAGON. Nonito Donaire Jr. has taken a page from Bruce Lee ahead of his ring return against Simpiwe Vetyeka. Photo by Adrian Portugal/Rappler

MANILA, Philippines – It was a stuffy afternoon on Tuesday, April 22, at the Elorde Boxing Gym in Sucat. There father and son – Nonito Donaire Jr and father Nonito Sr – played out a scene they had orchestrated countless times before since the former was a child.

Nonito Sr held the mitts and “Jun” punched them. It’s unlikely that the percussive thud that filled the air this afternoon had been replicated in that gym since the early days of Manny Pacquiao, yet Donaire wasn’t entirely pleased.

“That’s my problem,” Donaire says after landing a thudding left uppercut. “Once I hit that I stop. I need to get out of that mindset.”

Indeed, the 31-year-old Donaire (32-2, 21 knockouts) of San Leandro, California by way of Talibon, Bohol is at a crossroads in his career, following a disastrous 2013 campaign that proceeded the best year of his career.

In the midst of his career rising to new levels, Donaire had seemingly forgotten the formula that had led him to success initially. He fell in love with his power. That same syndrome ultimately led to the downfall of Mike Tyson.

After winning the BWAA Fighter of the Year award for 2012, Donaire’s career began to unravel. First he lost a split-decision to Guillermo Rigondeaux in early 2013, just before the birth of his first son Jarell. He returned later that year and struggled to defeat Vic Darchinyan – whom he had knocked out easily in 2007 – before rallying from behind to knock him out in 9 rounds.

Donaire suffered a facial fracture in that fight, which made him reconsider his approach to boxing.

“With negativity there is positivity and you can make use of the positivity in the negativity,” said Donaire, a titleholder in 4 divisions. “There is light and there is dark and I believe that with the darkness that hovered over me in 2013 it made me realize to bring out the potential that I have and I believe that I can bring out the potential that I have in the future. But it needed to happen in order for me to realize where I wanted to be. And at the same time it made me realize that I have not given my all yet and I want to give my all this time.”

“Then I only relied on punching power; if I hit you with it, you knew you were going down. That’s the mentality that I went with until the last fight with [Vic] Darchinyan where I had an injury and I faced my son and I said ‘I want to still box because I love boxing but I don’t want this face facing him with aches and pains when he can understand that I don’t want him to look at me and feel sorry for me.’”

‘It’s all a flow’

Now training with his father Nonito Donaire Sr for the 2nd straight fight after working with a slew of other trainers over the past several years, Donaire hopes to return to a fluid boxer-puncher style when he challenges WBA featherweight titleholder Simpiwe Vetyeka (26-2, 16 KOs) at the Venetian Resort in Macau, China on May 31.

Nonito Donaire Jr. takes a breather before his workout. Photo by Ryan Songalia/Rappler

To change the future, Donaire has looked to the past – and his love for martial arts – for inspiration. Donaire Jr has always associated himself with martial arts, even channeling Bruce Lee with his yellow and black “Game of Death” attire for the Jeffrey Mathebula fight in 2012. The exploits of Lee and Jackie Chan hit a chord with the dreamer inside of him, inspiring him to pursue their combat endeavors with his own twist.

Now, Donaire has borrowed another Bruce Lee staple – his “be like water” philosophy – to return to winning form.

“It’s all a flow, my movement is all flow, but lately I have not,” admits Donaire. “My flow is only when the water the splashes in the rocks, that big impact, that’s all I wait for. Rather than flowing with it and going with the motion, I’m pulling with everything that I got and just hitting that one spot, rather than creating everything that I want and controlling the water. 

“Rather than being controlled by the motion, I want to be just one flow with my body. I’m not just looking for one punch, I’m moving with my legs and moving with my body and moving with my arms, not just the arms throwing. I want to create that speed all over again to utilize that flow.”

Just a few months ago he had wondered internally if his career was over, but now Donaire is planning to move to 130, 135, and potentially as high as 140 pounds in his career, which would enable him to reach title tallies only rivaled by Pacquiao.

(RELATED: ‘Underdog’ Donaire Jr. fights to prove that he’s still great)

Donaire says that he hadn’t watched videos of his opponents in the past but has been reviewing tapes of the 33-year-old from Eastern Cape, South Africa. Vetyeka burst onto the international scene last December when he knocked out long-reigning titleholder Chris John in 6 rounds, forcing him into retirement.

“People can say he’s very strong but I’m also a very strong fighter, that’s also something that he needs to put in his mind as well,” said Donaire, who believes himself to be the underdog in this fight. “He’s a strong fighter, he’s a fast fighter but I still believe I have ability on par with his ability going into this fight.”

“I know that Vetyeka is a good boxer but I know that Nonito is stronger than him. We have to avoid those punches too because he keeps throwing punches even though he’s running away but he stops and throws punches,” says Donaire Sr, a veteran of the Philippine Army.

“I’m trying to bring back Nonito to the way he fights before. I want to see a young Nonito this time, fast and throwing a lot of punches.”

Donaire Sr says that the style Donaire Jr had employed in recent fights – walking forward without head movement looking to land one big shot – won’t work against the mobile Vetyeka. Donaire Sr cites Vetyeka’s knockout wins over Indonesians Chris John and Daud Cino Yordan as examples. 

Donaire has been training in the Philippines for a month and estimates his weight to be at 140. He is currently working out of the ALA Boxing Gym in Cebu, sparring with Cuban expatriate Reymi Castellano Aleye (4-0, 1 KOs) in four round clips, but targets 6 rounds next week before finishing up at 12 the week before the fight. Donaire will head back to Manila on May 2 to wrap up training at the Elorde Boxing Gym. – Rappler.com

Ryan Songalia

 

Ryan Songalia is the sports editor of Rappler, a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA) and a contributor to The Ring magazine. He can be reached at ryan@ryansongalia.com. An archive of his work can be found at ryansongalia.com. Follow him on Twitter: @RyanSongalia.

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