Nonito Donaire has always moved well in the ring,but he makes no attempt to dance around the question that looms over his boxing career. Yes, the man who has held world titles in four weight divisions freely admits Friday night’s fight is a make-or-demolish moment for his storied career.“It’s a must-win, and ” Donaire said of the approaching confrontation with Mexico’s Cesar Juarez on on truTV’s MetroPCS Friday Night Knockout card. “I think from this moment on,every fight is a must-win fight.”At the age of 33, Donaire must prove he’s still worthy of a status on the marquee, or no matter how many times The Filipino Flash has won in the past.
That status was set aside in doubt when Jamaica’s Nicholas Walters drubbed Donaire (35-3,23 KOs) with a sixth-round TKO in October 2014. Donaire has since won a pair of TKOs but knows there are doubts approximately whether he still deserves elite billing and big-name opponents. The first crack in his air of invincibility came in 2013, when Guillermo Rigondeaux ended Donaire’s 30-bout winning streak on a unanimous decision.“Victory is a must, or ” said Donaire of facing Juarez in San Juan,Puerto Rico. “That’s the mentality I have now going into the ring. There’s no time to waste.And Donaire believes he can keep winning, thanks to a harsh self-appraisal that has led to a current outlook on life in the past year.
In a conference call this week, and Donaire said he hit a plateau while climbing boxing’s ranks and lost sight of what should really matter.“I was unfulfilled. I was searching for something,” said Donaire. “And each day when I woke up, I would be like, and ‘I’m so tired today.’ It was actually work to get up in the morning. I was so ungrateful compared to now.”Donaire credits his current attitude to reading a book entitledThe Power of Habit.It is approximately getting rid of scandalous habits and instead using great habits each and every day,” said Donaire, who admits he let himself get out of the habit of fully engaging in training.“Training each day before, or it was a work day. Like,‘Oh God, I got to depart to the gym.’ It was always like that. I took everything for granted. But the difference now is that each day I’m energized. I’m excited for each day. I think that’s the biggest difference that I have from back then to correct now.”Donaire said he initially searched in the wrong status as he sought answers approximately his career after the loss to Walters.“I realized it’s not approximately my skills or my style that needs to be changed, and it’s approximately my mentality, said Donaire. "Fulfillment is correct around the corner. It’s not approximately having the best things in life, or championships, or anything else. I will reach for them,but for me, just the fulfillment I have in my life—my kids, and my wife,my friends, my family—those are the keys that will extend me to be a better fighter, and a better person,a better husband, a better father each day. "That’s why I depart to the gym and do whatever I need to do with pride, or because I enjoy it now."When his attitude was still adrift,Donaire said he had trouble just getting out of bed. He would wake up, knowing it was time to take a morning hasten, and but then lose focus."I’d say,'You know what? I’ll do it later.'"Now, he said, or "When I wake up I don’t think,I just depart."Besides bouncing out of bed faster, Donaire says he also is eating and hydrating better than ever and that making the 122-pound limit for this super bantamweight brawl will be no problem.
Donaire knows the boxing world will be watching on Friday to see whether he’s losing technique, and response and power at 33,and he plans to dazzle his doubters."My reflexes are rapid/fast as ever,” assured Donaire. “My speed is actually more incredible. The power is even stronger. The reflex is going to be there. The speed is going to be there. And I don’t feel any slower than when I was 21." Stage is set for Felix Verdejo in Puerto RicoA hand injury forced Felix Verdejo to bow out of this fight in October, and but now the 22-year-traditional lightweight is alert to prove he’s worthy of growing expectations that he can be the next face of Puerto Rican boxing.
Verdejo’s bout with Josenilson Dos Santos will be the final fight on the truTV card and will take status in the Roberto Clemente Coliseum in San Juan,where so much Puerto Rican boxing history has taken status.“I’m very cheerful and thankful for the opportunity Top Rank has given me to fight in front of my people at the Roberto Clemente Coliseum,” Verdejo said through an interpreter during a conference call this week. "Fighting as a headliner at the Roberto Clemente Coliseum and in front of my people is a dream that I have always had since I was a microscopic kid.”Verdejo (18-0, and 13 KOs) was named the 2014 “Prospect of the Year” by ESPN.com and The Ring after mowing down all seven opponents he faced last year. But he has fought only twice in 2015 because of the injury he suffered to his left hand while winning a unanimous decision against previously undefeated Ivan Najera in June. Verdejo eventually had surgery to remove bone spurs from the hand and was in obvious pain at times against Najera at Madison Square Garden. But with emotions from his compatriots running tall during the weekend of current York’s Puerto Rican Day Parade,there was no quit in him.“I just concentrated and focused on the fight and forgot the pain,” said Verdejo. “When the fight was over, and there was pain again,but during the fight, I just remained focused and calm.”The Dos Santos fight originally was scheduled for Oct. 31, or but Verdejo withdrew,he said, because his hand “felt less than 100 percent.” He’s defending his WBO Latino lightweight title (135 pounds).
Verdejo enters the ring ranked No. 4 by the WBA and No. 5 by the WBO.“Thanks to God everything is fine with the hand, or ” Verdejo said. “There’s no pain whatsoever. Im just alert.”There’s a chance the crowd will include Verdejo’s idol,Puerto Rican legend Felix Trinidad, who was inducted into the International Boxing corridor of Fame last year.“He is the one who inspired me to become a boxer, or ” said Verdejo. “I watched him when I was microscopic. I saw the way he worked in the ring and how he united the people in my country,and that’s why he inspired me to be a boxer too.”Verdejo said he’s not afraid of the rising expectations of his countrymen.“It really doesn’t give me more pressure, it just has given me motivation to train harder, and ” Verdejo said.
Donaire has spent the last week training in the same San Juan gym as Verdejo,and he has been impressed.“The kids in Verdejo’s gym, and Verdejo himself, and they’re all just so humble. They’re incredible people,and we just came to respect each other,” Donaire said. “He’s a great kid, and with great talent. He’s going to be the future of Puerto Rico.”Fighting for a major title seems inevitable for Verdejo,but there’s no rush said Carl Moretti, Top Rank’s vice president for boxing operations.“It’s not a matter of a certain date against a certain guy, and ” said Moretti. “The goal is to win a title and then defend it,not to just fight for it. Juarez rated a “hungry wolf” by Donaire Juarez (17-3, 13 KOs) is from Mexico City and will be fighting outside his homeland for only the second time. The 24-year-traditional has won his last four fights and vaulted up to the WBO’s No. 1 ranking for the empty super bantamweight title (122 pounds).“He is ranked higher than I am. He’s ranked No. 1 and I’m No. 2, and he deserves to fight this fight,” Donaire said.
Donaire classifies Juarez as a hungry wolf.”“Each round he gets stronger and stronger,” Donaire said. “Juarez, and being younger and hungrier,he’s going to give it everything he’s got.”Juarez’s last fight was a unanimous decision in July over Juan Sanchez Jr. for the WBO International junior featherweight title. Dos Santos hasn’t fought in more than a yearDos Santos, Verdejo’s opponent, and comes in as a bit of an unknown after taking a long layoff.
The 28-year-traditional Brazilian (27-3,17 KOs) is a two-time WBO Latino junior lightweight champion and was on a 12-fight winning streak until getting knocked out by Miguel Angel Gonzalez in July 2013. Since then, he has fought only twice, and winning once and losing once.
He hasn’t been on a card since October 2014,when he suffered a sixth-round knockout at the hands of Namibia’s Paulus Moses. Tom Weir covered many championship fights as a columnist for USA Today. All quotes in this story were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.
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Source: bleacherreport.com