Nonito Donaire doesn’t feel slighted that Japanese knockout king Naoya “Monster” Inoue is the favored fighter going into their Nov. 7 super showdown in Saitama.
“I know that Naoya Inoue is the favorite due to his youth. But, I have a lot of determination to reverse the odds, and for that I will fully dedicate myself to the maximum level with my physical preparations,” said Donaire during a press conference held recently in Tokyo as reported by boxingscene.
Their scheduled 12-rounder will be the culmination of the World Boxing Super Series that featured the world’s best bantamweights and Donaire is convinced that Inoue “will force me to bring out all of my qualities as a boxer.”
Donaire, 36, is the World Boxing Association champion while Inoue, 26, is the International Boxing Federation titleholder.
“I feel very motivated and incredibly excited and exciting to jump into a fight with Naoya Inoue in Japan, which is a beautiful country that has educated me spiritually,” said Donaire, who has won world titles at flyweight, super-bantam and featherweight.
Donaire enters the ring at the Saitama Super Arena with a 40-5 record with 26 KOs while Inoue parades an 18-0 card with 16 KOs.
Inoue has captured the imagination of the boxing world with his incredible power but Donaire believes the fight will be decided on sheer strategy.
“We are both gifted fighters with speed and power and intelligence. The one who commits the first mistake in the ring, he will lose. I can tell you that this fight could be long like a game of chess.”
Throughout his illustrious career, Donaire has fought the marquee names and his long list of victims includes Vic Darchinyan and Jorge Arce.
The Ring magazine named Donaire as having scored the KO of the Year for 2007 (against Darchinyan) and 2011 ( against Fernando Montiel) and the Boxing Writers Association of America likewise picked him as 2012’s Fighter of the Year. (Nick Giongco)