Nonito Donaire: "I Want to Show I Have Some Old School in Me"

Yesterday afternoon, I participated in a media conference call set up by Top Rank Boxing in which bantamweight champion Nonito Donaire, his trainer Robert Garcia and his promoter Bob Arum discussed Donaire's October 22 fight in Madison Square Garden against undefeated, two-division champion Omar Narvaez of Argentina. 

Arum's objective for this fight is clear—he wants Donaire's debut in the historic Garden to be a signature moment in the sport's history. He's promoting a fight in nine days, sure. But the end goal is a career that he hopes might become boxing's next big thing.

"I really believe Nonito will become a big star in boxing," Arum said. "People who are fans of boxing already know he's one of the pound-for-pound best boxers. Our goal is to make him a superstar. We expect as he rises in weight, he will become more popular."

But when pressed for a timeline for when Donaire's big ascent to superstardom might occur, the veteran promoter demurred, "The goal like with anything in boxing is to make him a pay-per-view attraction. To put a time line on it is kind of silly. It will happen when it happens—I'm not going to set an artificial projection of when it has to happen."

One thing Donaire made clear was that this will be his last fight at 118 pounds. "I definitely didn't expect it to be this difficult—it wasn't easy the last two fights."

Donaire explained that since his last fight, a sensational second-round KO of Fernando Montiel, he has trained hard to bulk up physically, adding heavy muscle mass to his frame.

Donaire added that he looked forward to his potential challenges when moving up, noting "there are a lot of incredible fighters (that) Top Rank has at 122."

While there was a lot of talk during the call about Donaire's future, the fighter and trainer made it very clear that they were not looking past their opponent for a week from this Saturday. Garcia emphasized that "Donaire took this fight very seriously." He added, "We've had great sparring, a great training camp—Nonito is in tremendous shape."

Donaire echoed that the training for this fight has been rigorous. "I really put my faith in my training," the 29-year-old rising star stated humbly. "That's what my confidence comes from, training really hard."

While team Donaire was clearly optimistic about their chances, they were quick to emphasize that they consider Narvaez a world-class talent and a legitimate threat, despite the fact that he gives up four inches to Donaire and not an insignificant amount of foot and hand speed.

Garcia noted that Narvaez is "very experienced. He knows how to take a fight into the later rounds."

When I asked Garcia if he saw any specific tactical problems Narvaez might present, he replied, "He's been in with good fighters, but no Nonito Donaire's. So he's going to be putting together a game plan with his team, and we'll have to take the first few rounds and see what he's trying to do. We'll see what he does. Nonito's very good at reacting." 

All the smart money has to be on Donaire for this fight. The 26(18)-1 Filipino-American would seem to just be too physically powerful and athletically gifted for the 5'3" Narvaez, 35(19)-0-2. The game plan clearly calls for Donaire to put this victory in the bank and continue his march toward greatness. 

Arum's placement of Donaire in Madison Square Garden at this point is a clear-cut attempt to raise his talented client's profile. "It will be great for Nonito's future to get exposure in New York, against an undefeated opponent."

Nonito Donaire versus Omar Narvaez will be broadcast on HBO's Boxing After Dark at 10:30 ET on October 22. I will be blogging the fight live from Madison Square Garden.