Author: Colin Seymour

I spent the better part of an hour Tuesday afternoon on the phone with Rachel and Nonito Donaire, who called from Manila. That call officially launches 10 days of buildup for the IBF flyweight champion’s defense April 18 against unbeaten Raul Martinez.

After training long enough for two fights, Donaire says he “could go 24 rounds,”
but he’s supremely confident the fight will be shorter than our phone call.

It was pretty early Wednesday morning, Manila time, when Rachel called. A few minute earlier, she had posted a Facebook update that said she was up “wayyyy tooo early, but gotta get used to it for the fight.”

It will be April 19, a Sunday morning, when the fight takes place at Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City. Imagine how early Manila fans have to get up to take the train or brave insane traffic for a trek that makes our (Friday) May 16 jaunt up the Nimitz to see Andre Ward fight seem like a Sunday drive in Vermont.

It still isn’t that easy to coordinate with people halfway around the world. I’ve met Nonito and Rachel only once, have talked by phone with them twice each, and have exchanged sporadic e-mails. So I don’t really know them yet. But a review of your Welterweight Champion’s 10 or so Donaire posts since last fall presents what still seems to be an accurate picture of the San Leandro boxer’s eventful four months in his native Philippines, where even the national preoccupation with Manny Pacquiao hasn’t completely obscured some soap-opera level drama in the Donaire corner of that market.

It still seems to have been a happy four months, despite the ongoing heartache of a rift with Nonito Sr., whom Junior dismissed as trainer last November amid arguments concerning Rachel’s role in the fighter’s camp. Then the promotion became a circus as Fernando Montiel and two other opponent fell through and the fight date and television details kept changing. Eventually some of the promotion’s budgeting fell short, and Nonito and Rachel almost came home to California.

On the plus side, Nonito’s alliance with bantamweight eminence Gerry Penalosa and his brothers has been both soothing and invigorating, and the Philippines is a fine place for sweethearts to spend the winter.

This link will take you to my February account of the Donaires’ endorsements of several articles, including mine, that pretty well detailed the state of their relationship with each other, Nonito’s father, the Penalosas and the couple’s dual homelands. The further links inside that post should whet your appetite while I’m organizing the topics that highlighted this week’s phone conversation and blend them with updates as the fight approaches.

Rest assured, by the way, that the fight will be visible live on pay-per-view in the Bay Area, along with the co-feature matching light-flyweight champion Ulises Solis against Brian Viloria. Donaire�s promoter, Top Rank, and the Philippines��� Solar Sports are co-marketing the pay-per-view, which presumably will cost viewers about $30.

In the meantime, we’ll be talking about the changes in Donaire’s corner, his strategy against Martinez, and how he’ll react if something goes wrong. He isn’t losing sleep over any of it.

Original Source: http://www.examiner.com/x-802-SF-Boxing-Examiner~y2009m4d9-Long-phone-chat-with-Nonito-and-Rachel-Donaire-begins-countdown-for-fight-barely-a-week-away