Donaire told The Standard/boxingmirror.com that he has been sparring 10 rounds with Fidel Navarette, a 24-year-old super featherweight from Highland, Indiana, who has a record of 8-1-2 with 4 knockouts and 27-year-old Fred Bowen, a lightweight from Jackson, Tennessee with a record of 5-2-1 with 2 knockouts.
Donaire said the two sparring partners push him and “keep coming at me,” and that in the face of the aggression he is “doing really excellently.”
“I feel great, my mental aspect is on a different level and helps me prepare for this fight. It’s amazing,” said Donaire. “This is the hardest I have trained for a fight. I am more committed and have direction in my training” unlike in the past.
The Filipino Flash maintained that whether the WBO, which stripped Guillermo Rigondeaux of the title acts positively on his appeal or not, “it doesn’t matter. I am fighting for victory.”
Nonito’s wife Rachel, a former national taekwondo champion in the US, said she too was amazed at how well her husband has looked in training.
After a crushing sixth- round TKO loss to Jamaica’s bigger and stronger Nicholas Walters, Donaire decided to drop down to super bantamweight and since then, has scored two second-round TKO victories over William Prado of Brazil and Anthony Settoul of France, the former European bantamweight champion. (R. Nathanielsz, MS)