After his devastating TKO loss to “The Monster” Naoya Inoue in June, Nonito “The Filipino Flash” Donaire, refuses to call it quits.
The soon to be 40-year-old, multiple weight division world champion, was stopped in a rematch to undefeated knockout artist Inoue, and lost badly by TKO in round 2. He looked like a shell of himself and couldn’t pull the trigger like before and his defensive reflexes were off.
Many observers including myself saw an aged Donaire and expected him to announce his retirement shortly after the loss, but he has decided to continue on.
Donaire said he had a discussion with Richard Schaefer of Probellum before he fought Inoue about going down to 115 pounds and competing there for big fights since he made the 118 pound weight easily.
The opponents on his radar are WBO super flyweight champion Kazuto Ioka and three-weight division champion from Nicaragua Roman ‘Chocolatito’ Gonzalez.
He might have a shot against Chocolatito because he is also on the tail end of his career and took a lot of damage. If he wins it will give him false confidence to continue on and then get hurt again.
I personally think this is a very bad decision for the future hall of famer. Donaire has nothing left to prove and he looked very weak at 118 pounds, what energy will he have left if he cuts down to 115 pounds?
A fighter has to know when to hang the gloves up. Donaire has to realize his time has come and gone, and let the young lions come up. He has an amazing boxing IQ and would be a great trainer, or even a commentator and analyst.
Great fighters as they get older and take a couple of losses, always think they can still fight, but many times they end up suffering because of their pride and refusal to accept the reality that they are no longer the same fighter they were at 25 or even 30.
Let’s hope Nonito Donaire makes the right decision for his family and his health.
Erwin Lastimosa is a long time boxing fan and enjoys boxing discussion with his peers. Some of his favorite fighters are Sugar Ray Leonard, Roberto Duran, Marvin Hagler, Muhammad Ali, Flash Elorde, Mike Tyson and Manny Pacquiao.