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AS he
expects several major challenges to come his way next
year, Filipino world flyweight champion Nonito Donaire
Jr. is appealing to his American promoter to treat him
like a real champion.
But no,
Donaire is not demanding royal treatment. All the
General Santos City native wants from his American
promoter Gary Shaw is to treat him appropriately.
Donaire
is coming off a spectacular eight-round
technical-knockout win over Mexican challenger Luis
Maldonado Sunday morning at the Foxwoods Resort and
Casino in Connecticut, USA.
Apparently, everything did not go well for Team Donaire
from the time the well-bred fighter began his training
camp in
Cebu.
Donaire
said Shaw was against their decision to train in Cebu in
preparing for his first title defense.
“I got
to train, that’s all I got in my head. I came to the
Philippines because I needed the training and he was
against that. He may be afraid of me signing up with
people and stuff like that,” said Donaire in an overseas
telephone conversation with Sports Radio yesterday. “Our
training camp in
Cebu went really great, and I will do that again for my upcoming
fights.”
No idea
about challenger
Donaire
said he even had no idea who his challenger would be
when they arrived in the Philippines for their one-month
training.
“I had a
lot to lose in the Maldonado fight and I need to take
each fight seriously. You can’t just give me a one-month
notice for each fight,” revealed Donaire. “It doesn’t
work that way for me anymore because I got to lose
weight, train hard and each fight is harder for me.”
A week
before the fight, Donaire had no idea when they will
leave for Connecticut as they still had to get their
plane tickets from their promoter.
“We were
supposed to leave on Monday but we found out that we
were flying the same day that night. We had to rush
everything,” said Donaire. “Maldonado’s plane ticket was
already scheduled two weeks before everything. I didn’t
know when we were flying out. I didn’t know anything.”
Donaire
was even disregarded when he asked Shaw about why they
were not given the five rooms supposedly allotted for
them based on the fight contract, they signed.
“I’m
supposed to get five rooms in the contract, and when I
asked Gary he told me, ‘Who do you think you are, Manny
Pacquiao?,’” said Donaire. “I’ve never said or did
anything to hurt his feelings.”
‘Bossy
in a lot of things’
Shaw
also got the TV rights from local TV network Solar
Sports to exclusively air the Donaire-Maldonado fight.
Donaire, however, said they were never given a share of
those earnings.
“With
the TV rights, he was paid a lot of money and I didn’t
get a cent from it. For him, he’s bossy in a lot of
things. He wants what he wants, and sometimes for me, I
got to do what I got to do,” added Donaire, who is
trained by his father Nonito Sr.
“For us,
me and my dad, we’re just too nice sometimes we tend to
let people walk over. But sometimes we just have to
realize that we have to be treated right because each
fight gets even harder from the last,” he added.
Donaire
is still open to sit down with Shaw and have a more
harmonious working relationship with the loquacious
American impresario.
“There’s
a lot of miscommunication and it seems like he’s against
us, and we have to sit down with them and put the team
together in order for us to really work things out,”
said Donaire. “I’m not the type of person who picks who
I fight. I let people who work with me do that. All I
know is that I’m a fighter and I got to do what I got to
do.”
Donaire
(19-1, 12 KOs) won the International Boxing Federation
and International Boxing Organization flyweight belts
via a one-punch 5th-round knockout win over Aussie Vic
Darchinyan in July, also in Connecticut.
Donaire
is one of four current Filipino world champions that
include World Boxing Organization (WBO) minimum weight
ruler Donnie Nietes, IBF 105-lb holder Florante Condes
and WBO bantamweight champion Gerry Penalosa.
Filipino
boxing sensation Manny Pacquiao holds the World Boxing
Council (WBC) International super featherweight belt, a
title which is not as prestigious.
Pacquiao,
however, will get his chance at a regular WBC 130-lb
title as he finally agreed to battle defending champion
Juan Manuel Marquez on March 15 at the Mandalay Bay in
Las Vegas, Nevada. |
