Philippine Daily Inquirer

Donaire back to his old style

PATIENT, CALCULATIN­G

- By Marc Anthony Reyes

FINALLY realizing there’s something wrong in his strategy the past few fights, Nonito Donaire Jr. has vowed to go back to his old patient, calculatin­g style.

After failing to knock out his past three opponents—the last two at 122 lb—Donaire told Ryan Maquinana of boxingscen­e.com that he will go back to his tried and tested game plan which requires precision and temperamen­t as much as brute power.

The 29-year-old Donaire came up with solid wins over Omar Narvaez, Wilredo Vazquez Jr., and Jeffrey Mathebula but didn’t get a high grade after he appeared to be rushing for a quick kill instead of using jabs and combinatio­ns that were already in his arsenal.

“I’m getting back to my old rhythm,” Donaire was quoted by the boxing portal. “The Nonito Donaire that you’ve seen lately has been more toward power, toward knocking guys out and being impatient.”

“I’m going back to the person who puts a good, tactical plan together, set up a good punch, and can knock guys out with any punch because of a great strategy,” added Donaire.

Donaire is going through the late phase of his training for the Oct. 13 world super bantamweig­ht fight against Japanese Toshiaki Nishioka at Home Depot Center in Carson, California.

He has been sparring 12 full rounds against lightweigh­t Oscar Diaz and Erick De Leon, southpaws like the 36-year-old Nishioka who, like him, is known for being wise to the ways of the ring.

Donaire has also underwent his second drug test through the Voluntary Anti-Doping Associatio­n in keeping with his promise to promote clean boxing. He gave urine and blood samples to the Vada personnel who does random tests 24/7.

Giving blood in the middle of training camp won’t harm him physically, assured Donaire, who hired Victor Conte as his chief nutritioni­st. Conte was once convicted of peddling performanc­e-enhancing substance to big-time athletes but has soon turned top anti-dope advocate.

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