CARSON, California – Nonito Donaire Jr. feels that pushing 32 he’s just getting older – and wiser.
He said he’s a different fighter now than he used to be. Against Jamaica’s Nicholas Walters on Saturday, Donaire will prove that he just got better as well.
“I don’t think I’m the same fighter as before. I trained to be a different fighter. I’m getting better,” he told scribes heading to the fight.
It’s a very crucial fight for Donaire because if he doesn’t succeed here, he might start considering a couple other things in life.
Walters represents a clear and present danger for Donaire.
But Donaire feels that he’s up to the task, saying he trained long and hard for this fight, and that he may be in his best shape ever.
A foreign scribe, however, said he’s heard that before from Donaire, the 2012 Fighter of the Year but hasn’t been impressive since.
The Filipino said people will see the new Donaire.
“The old Donaire was very confident, very young and talked a lot,” he said.
“This time it’s the knowledge and it’s the experience. I’m wiser. I don’t say much (now). I just do what I need to do,” he said.
The old Donaire was far more exciting maybe because he always went for the knockout. But now he said he trained to be more technical.
“I was just had one style before and that’s to knock people’s head off. This time we’re bringing it back to being a multi and technical fighter,” he said.
Walters would hear none of it because in his mind, Donaire is nearing the end of his career, adding that he never thought that the former Fighter of the Year would take on him.
“I’m surprised. I thought he would dodge me. Maybe he’d seen something I haven’t seen,” Walters said.