Nonito Donaire’s Maestro Assessment of Naoya Inoue

By James Blears

A daunting task awaits Australia’s Sam Goodman, who takes on WBC, IBF and WBO super-bantamweight Champion Naoya Inoue on January 24^th at the Ariake Arena in Tokyo.

The fight was scheduled for Christmas Eve, with everyone raring to be present and correct, but it unravelled, because Sam suffered a cut eyebrow in a final sparring session. So, here we are again… awaiting fireworks.

What better a person than the Great Nonito ‘’FIlipino Flash’’ Donare to seek out, in order to gain a maestro tutorial about the risks, factors on the dais and dividends on the table. To the victor the plaudits. Who will be bold… and who will fold?

A Superstar in his own right, via His fabled right, left and other assortment of pinpoint angular punches, Nonito has also won world titles in four weight categories. He is the oldest boxer to have won the bantamweight title, at the grand old age of thirty- eight. During twenty- four years of a glorious pro career, he has built, crafted, honed and burnished a wondrous record of 42-8, with 28 KO’s.

Nonito has twice fought ‘’The Monster.’’ The first audacious, arduous, magnificent challenge, was at the twilight zone age of 37, In the Final of The World Boxing Super Series, and it proved to be a classic for the ages. Diverse, subtle and powerful, Nonito posed all sorts of puzzles for Naoya to absorb , learn from and resolve. As The Monster recalls with ruthful hindsight, gained from the double vision he suffered following that ruthless blow: ‘’If there’s anything worse than fighting one Nonito, it’s seeing him in double form!’’

In that round two, Nonito capitalized on a monstrous momentary lapse of concentration by Naoya, to unleash and land a monumental left hook. That one punch broke Naoya’s nose, fractured his right cheekbone and opened a sliced divot over his right eye. Naoya winced, soaked it up, but then re-grouped, fought back, focused and then applied the severest pressure to his ageing opponent, gaining the upper hand and turning the tables, until he nearly closed the show in round eleven, via a searing left hook to the liver.

Digging deep, delving into his recess reserviors of resourcefulness, survival instincts, sheer guts and Champion’s willpower, Nonito instinctively scuttled across the ring, buying himself precious seconds… before going down. Then somehow resisting the searing pain, he got up, weathered and survived the ensuing onslaught typhoon and somehow fought back to make it to the final bell. Behind on the scorecards, he’d been seeking and gambling for a KO, to pull it out of the fire.

After the final bell tolled, Naoya went straight across to the corner of Nonito, where the older man was sensibly sitting and resting on his stool, reverently knelt, tenderly embracing the vintage Maestro.

The ultimate mark of respect from one Four Division Champion to another. A magical, magnificent, humbling and deeply moving moment, highlighting Boxing at its magisterial finest. In the rematch, Nonito chanced his arm, engaging in a firefight from the opening bell and was stopped in round two. Nothing ventured, nothing gained!

Few men if any, are better qualified to ponder and assess the upcoming fight between Naoya Inoue and Sam Goodman. Blessed with fists of Kryptonite, Nonito who is also eurudite, possesses the ability to formulate and apply the sophisticated strategy of a Ring Generissimo.

The two occasions when Naoya Inoue was almost caught napping, was in round two against Nonito and round one, courtesy of a left hook with which Luis Nery dropped him. Those rare opportunities presented themselves early, because all boxers are still getting warmed up at this stage, before they settle into their fighting groove.

Nonito explains: ‘’It’s anyone’s game early on. That is something you have to gamble on and I did just that in round two. Everyone is vulnerable in the beginning and indeed Inoue himself.

‘’Inoue has built a reputation like I did in the past, and so a lot of fighters aren’t willing to engage or see his flaws. What I did was to see how he was moving and where his hands were. You have to punch with a puncher and see if it works. Sometimes it does! You have to be brave enough to see those moments when he opens up, because if you’re always going to be on the back foot, there’s no point to going into that ring. You have to identify an opening….and take it!

‘’When I caught him with that left hook in round two, I didn’t realize the extent of the damage done. I was doing the same thing I always do, going all out. There was nothing giving me the go signal to attack all out.’’

But in round eleven, it was Nonito’s turn to be on the receiving end and take some stick, when he suffered that rib-bending left hook which actually landed with an almighty thud on his liver. He recalls: ‘’In those moments, time goes by very slow. I knew I could get back up and stand up, but if I got hit one more time, maybe I couldn’t. So, I took my time. I still believed I was going to go for a knockout and I still believed that I had the power to do that. Ultimately, I made a gamble for myself on that one.’’

As for the knelt tribute after the final bell once the dust had finally settled, Nonito pauses for a moment and poignantly says; ‘’Naoya Inoue has always been gracious. He has always been kind to me. He has always been very good to me. So, to get his respect, I was deeply honoured.’’

Fast forward to the here and now and most of us are hearing that Sam Goodman is really up against it. Yet everyone always has a chance and like Naoya, Sam is still undefeated plus hungry and ambitious.

Nonito applauds Sam’s willingness to put up his hand and step up for this extraordinary challenge, reflecting: ‘’It takes real courage to fight guys like Inoue. You’ve got to feint and throw jabs, because you don’t have the power to overcome a powerful fighter.

‘’You have to use technically, generally and genuinely better movement and good timing. This is something Sam needs to key in on, especially with his jabs. Sam must give what he has. He doesn’t have the power that I do. He doesn’t have the experience I do. Sam just has to fight the way he fights, the best way he can. That is what he knows how to do. Whether it’s lateral movement, throwing a jab and doing a feint, but… he can’t run.

‘’I haven’t seen much of Sam Goodman, but him being an Olympian is important. I know that with the guys from Australia, their training routine is different. I think he needs to step out and get some sparring experience somewhere else. No disrespect, but he needs different types of styles, because if you’re comfortable in sparring you are not going to learn. But ultimately, he has to fight to the best of his way, because there is no other way he can fight.’

As a consummate pro, Inoue isn’t overlooking a resourceful, eager, talented and ambitious Sam Goodman. But on the horizon in the coming months, there is the very real prospect of him encountering WBC Bantamweight Champion, compatriot and also undefeated Junto Nakatani. Potentially the most important fight between Japanese superstars in half a century. For that to happen, Nakatani has to do his part and overcome hard hitting David ‘’General’’ Cuellar on February 24^th in the Ariake Arena.

Without losing sight of the evident resident present, Nonito steals a glance ahead by enthusing; ‘’A very good fight. Inoue is such a great fighter, but Nakatani has the reach, the height and he’s a southpaw, who loves to throw that overhead left which is pretty powerful, so I think it’s a very interesting matchup.’’

Looking even further ahead, would the jump from super-bantam to featherweight and therein a fifth division, be a quantum leap too much for Inoue and a bridge too far?

Nonito says moving up in weight would be easier for bigger framed Nakatani, but he also stresses; ‘’Moving up in weight will take away power which will dissipate, so maybe Inoue would relay more on speed and technicality. Yet, he might do ‘’A Canelo’’ and carry his power over with him.

‘’With us smaller guys compared to those bigger guys, we can rise four or five weight classes and still retain power, yet our bodies are limited to a certain amount of impact. I myself was smaller, but could drop a one hundred and twenty- six pounder and you can do this with body shots as anyone is vulnerable to that. I think Inoue will be able to do this, but he won’t be the same Inoue you will see at 118 or 122.’’

For the purposes of this interview opportunity realized, we are indebted to ‘’Dr Hitman’’ Abraham Daniel, who put us in touch with Maestro Nonito Donaire, and of course The Champ himself, for being so generous with his time and insightful, via his sage wisdom.