Nonito Donaire continued to build up his Hall of Fame resume, landing his signature left hook to the body to end his all-Filipino showdown against Reymart Gaballo (24-1, 20 KOs) on Saturday night.
“He tried to nullify my left hook, but I just had to have no mercy,” said Donaire. “My wife and my dad were telling me to go to the body. I had to set it up by bouncing up and down to open up that shot. I was throwing the right hand in the earlier rounds and then he didn’t expect the left hook to the body. I thought he was going to get up because I know he has a lot of heart, but that was a tremendous punch that landed.”
With his first defense of the WBC title under his belt, the 39-year-old Donaire will now seek a rematch against unified bantamweight champion Naoya Inoue, reprising their 2019 Fight of the Year clash.
“It’s my team’s job to work on the rematch with Inoue,” said Donaire. “I believe my team is going to make it happen. I’m able to keep fighting at this age because I just have faith in myself and have a lifestyle that’s good for me. There is no such thing as a cheat day. It’s a choice day, and it’s my choice to train and to be me.”
Great dody shot by donaire, he even came off the ground while throwing it, reminded me of a mini mike tyson. Lol.
Gotta love Donaire. He won’t get the respect like some of the others, but when you think about it, he was definitely one of the best fighters of his era and now he’s 39 and still knocking out 25 year olds.
One of my favorite fighters. Donaire is a great person and tremendous talent.
– Nonito Donaire is a class-act.
– Younger fighters take note of what class and sportsmanship looks like in a boxing champion.
– Go Nonito, go !!!!!!
LOVE this guy, he should be known by everyone and always a sell out. Cheers to him.
What a great weekend of boxing,Donaires ko and lomas injury free dominating fight
Wow great boxing career to have been able to do it at this level for so long. Against Oscar Valdez I think he beats him too. Experience like he has can carry him past many young untested today. Congratulations on the win
I’m a huge Nonito fan, but it appeared that kid was starstruck.
ATG. The smaller fighters really don’t get the credit they deserve and Nonito definitely should be recognized as a top 10 pound-for-pound fighter. After all, he did take the pound-for-pound number one the distance and won more rounds against the Japanese fighter than all other fighter have combined.