During this conversation with Fight Hub TV, Nonito Donaire takes some time to chat with Marcos Villegas regarding this weekend’s title defense against Reymart Gaballo, how he’s feeling at this stage of his career, and his expectations moving forward. Check out some excerpts of what Donaire had to say below.
Donaire on how he’s feeling entering this title defense against Gaballo
“We started off with mental, as I mentioned earlier, we’ve got to be mentally strong so that our body falls in line with what we believe we are. What we believe we are is who we become and I believe I’m the champion, I believe I’m the undisputed champion of the world, and that’s how I’m gonna go inside the ring.”
On how his approach to boxing has changed since he was a younger professional
“I let go of a lot of my egos, and that’s why my wife is in my corner because she’s very smart in looking at fights and then now I can look into it and change my style or improve my style because now I’m listening. There’s no pride about anything else, it’s just getting better. And this is why you’re seeing different performance over and over, because I keep myself ready, mentally prepared, and constantly studying to get better.”
On what he expects in facing Gaballo
“I think it’s tailor made for me because of the fact that opening, that vantage of his punches — he’s raw…he hasn’t paid for the mistakes that he’s done throughout the years and with me he’ll pay for it. I just know it. I just know and see it.
“I’ve got a lot of power in both hands but (the left hook) is just something I have timing on. I don’t know, it just does it on its own so I’m grateful for that. I’m always in the game because I have power to take guys out on both hands.”
On wanting to become undisputed
“After the Inoue fight I felt that ‘I could beat this guy’ but I’ve gotta go back to what I did before, back to the drawing board, back to strategy, back to everything else. So that’s what’s inspired me to keep going.”
On if he thinks he’s more likely to face Casimero next than Inoue
“It doesn’t matter to me. It’s more of what Richard thinks is easier to do.”