A Knockout Love Story

The couple that fights together stays happily together. Watch related video

Look at Nonito “Flash” Donaire Jr., boxing champion, and his wife Rachel Donaire, bemedalled Taekwondo fight. The fight in different arenas but when they fight a common enemy (such as those in the recent issue involving Nonito and his father), they fight together.

They are not shy about being transparent in public, whether they are grappling with sports-unrelated issues or hugging and gently kissing each other such as when they faced the movie press recently when they were launched as endorsers of Mariko Skin & Body Centre (The Science of Japanese Dermatology) which is said to have been designed for Asian skin and body.

“I am the best proof,” said Rachel who looks more like a beauty queen and a voluptuous actress (she once graced the cover of FHM) than a Taekwondo fighter. Rachel looks like Japanese but she’s not. She has Chinese blood (father side).

The “domestic” issue has been ironed out (father and son, along with Rachel, have reconciled), so the following Conversation done after the presscon proper touched on the couple’s love story and hardly scratched the messy issue.

The Donaires were married in civil rites in California where they are both based on Aug. 8, 2008. They plan to get married, this time in church, on 11-11-11.

How did you meet?

Rachel (Joking): He was hitting on me.

Nonito ‘Flash’ Donaire Jr. and his wife Rachel are the endorsers of Mariko

Nonito (Also joking): Siya nga ang nanligaw sa akin, eh.

Rachel (Seriously now): It was in 2007. Our team (the US national Taekwondo team) won and I was having a party and I guess there was an after-boxing party at the same time, and somebody invited him. When he entered the door, he didn’t even bother to say “Hi!” to me. Cute naman siya pero parang mayabang siya. So I just walked away.

Nonito: Because she walked away, akala ko suplada siya.

Rachel: We didn’t like each other at all during that first meeting. But later that night, we ended up dancing. And we started to feel a little chemistry between us. My friends went to our house and I showed them my fight video. Nonito knew that I did Taekwondo but he thought that I break boards or bricks, so when he saw the video, he couldn’t believe that I was really fighting. He said, “Is that you? Or is it someone else?”

(To Nonito) Why didn’t you believe that Rachel was a fighter? Sabagay, she does look more like a beauty queen.

Nonito: Kaya nga, eh. She said she thought that I was mayabang but I knew na sa isip niya, “Ay, ang sexy naman ng lalaking ito!”

Rachel: Oh my goodness!

Nonito: Actually, I felt the same way. It was definitely not love at first sight. I thought, napaka-suplada naman ng babaing ito; akala mo kung sino. Donyang-donya ang dating.

Rachel: But it was my party!

Nonito: So? (Adding) I couldn’t believe that she was a Taekwondo fighter kasi maganda siya, eh. Mahusay magdamit at marunong mag-makeup, so talagang hindi atleta ang dating.

After that party, how soon did you meet again?

Rachel: We met on a Thursday. There were other parties on Friday and Saturday, and we kept on meeting in all these parties. And then in other sports-related events, too.

Then, you began liking each other?

Rachel: My impression of him started to change. I thought, hindi naman pala siya suplado. Mabait naman pala. At gentleman naman pala siya. He would open the door for me and did small things like…when I ate chicken, I wouldn’t eat the skin because it made me sick, so he would peel off the skin and eat it before handing to me the skinless part.

Nonito: I love the skin. Paborito ko ‘yon, eh.

When did you realize that Rachel was not suplada, after all?

Nonito: I found out na suplada siya kapag hindi ka niya kilala. Kapag friends ka niya, she’s very loyal. She’s the type na kapag kalaban ka, she’ll give you hell. Kung kaibigan ka niya, she will take care of you as an older sister would.’

How did the courtship start?

Nonito: We became friends before we became sweethearts. She got sick, so I would drive for 20 minutes to her home and cook chicken noodle soup for her. I lived in San Leandro and she lived in San Mateo which are 20 minutes apart. Kahit pagod ako sa training, I would check her out at home and cook for her.

No sleepovers?

Nonito: No sleepovers. Takot ko lang sa daddy niya.

Rachel: At that time, I had just gotten out of the US Air Force where I worked for five years as a secretary. I traveled to the different bases and when my term was up, I came home and lived with my parents.

Wasn’t there any formal courtship?

Nonito: After two weeks of being friends, I told myself, “I like her.” So I treated her to a very nice dinner.

Good thing you were both free.

Rachel: You know, the day that I met him, on the way to the club my sisters’ friends were asking me, “Do you have a boyfriend? Are you meeting him at the party?” I said, “No, nobody can keep up with me anyway.” Kasi with me, parang I don’t want to have just a casual relationship; I never thought that anyone was mature or serious enough for me to even consider.

And you found only Nonito “mature and serious enough”?

Rachel: At the time we had that dinner, he picked me up from a doctor’s clinic where I was working. He took me to a Thai restaurant where he asked me to be his girlfriend. Then he gave me this ring. (Holding up her hand to show the ring)

You are fast! You gave her a ring at once!

Nonito: I told her, “This is only a promise ring, with a promise that I will be loyal to you, that I will be honest to you regardless of you say na ayaw mo sa akin or you don’t want to be my girlfriend.” It was some kind of a friendship ring. I wanted to do it right na walang bolahan.

Rachel: You know, he’s not other guys who would promise you the world…

Nonito: I told her, “Basta, I will be loyal to you, I will be truthful to you, wala akong itatago sa’yo, and I promise na nandito lang ako for you.”

When did you become more than just friends?

Rachel: On Nov. 28, 2007. Two weeks after that party where we met.

Wow, ang tagal! Two weeks! (To Nonito) Did you give Rachel a taste of your pound-for-pound style?

Rachel: Since we were already friends, we were very transparent about everything, whether it was the fact that I wasn’t feeling well or he was too tired from training. We fast became comfortable with each other. I think some people set themselves up for failure in their relationship. Kasi, there’s a honeymoon period, right? After that, they start finding faults in each other — you know, why are you like this, why are you like that? If they stop tip-toeing and just walk right into a relationship, not hiding anything from each other, things work out better.

How many siblings do you have?

Nonito: I have an older sister, an older brother and a younger brother.

Rachel: I have a sister.

Aside from being fighters, what do you have in common?

Rachel: Actually, we are opposites.

Nonito: Opposites but we have the same likes.

Rachel: Opposites but we measure well. Like what I said about the chicken. I like the meat and he likes the skin. Sometimes he’s short-tempered and I calm him down.

I thought you were as temperamental as Nonito was.

Rachel: Yeah. There are times when I’m like that.

Nonito: At ako naman ang nagpapakalma sa kanya.

How do you deal with differences in your upbringing?

Rachel: Not much difference. My family is from Tarlac but I grew up in America.

Nonito: I was born and spent part of my growing-up years in Bohol. Then, our family migrated to the US.

Rachel: The funny part is that he tried to make it to the Olympics in 2000. Same with me, he in boxing and I in Taekwondo. We both didn’t make it. We both wanted to represent the Philippines, after all I’d been fighting here since 1998. I was staying in Alabang.

Nonito: I was 17 then. I came home but I wasn’t given a chance to represent the Philippines. I wanted to fulfill my dream, so I just kept fighting.

Rachel, you have this image of being a fighter even off the arena.

Rachel: It’s a wrong impression. I’m just not the type who would cry in the corner when somebody is attacking me. I fight back. Is there anything wrong with me speaking my body.

Nonito (Joking): La contravida. ‘Yan ang dating niya sa mga tao when actually she’s the sweetest person in the world.

Nonito, hindi ka naman ander de saya?

Nonito: Only at night. Joke! I respect her as my wife and as a strong woman. I let her make decisions but I always have the final say. Pero kung ayaw ko, I don’t let her push the issue. My decision stands.

How’s Rachel as a wife? Rate her on a scale from 1 to 10.

Nonito: She’s amazing in every sense of the word. Rate her? 20! She’s over-protective only when people are attacking me.

Rate Nonito as a husband, also on a scale of 1 to 10.

Rachel: 10 times 2. By the way, let me say something about the issue between him and his family. People were wondering why I was the one standing up for him. I was actually shielding him because he was training. I had to be strong for him. Otherwise, he would have been distracted and, who knows, he might have lost the fight.

I understand that you train together. (To Nonito) Do you, like other athletes, abstain from sex before a fight?

Nonito: No, I don’t believe that it affects our performance in the ring. In fact, I think nakakatulong pa nga, eh.

Anyway, you are getting married in church on 11-11-11. Why on that date?

Nonito: It’s a lucky date.

Rachel: We got married (in civil rites) on 08-08-08.

Describe your wedding.

Rachel: Our 08-08-08 wedding was held outdoors; it was on a beach and the reception was on a rooftop. For the church wedding, everything will have to be indoors.

And how soon do you plan to have a baby?

Rachel: Hmmmm. That we still have to discuss.

(Note: Mariko Skin & Body Centre has outlets in Makati City [telephone 553-2397], San Juan City [725-9406], Mandaluyong City [477-5736] and Pasay City [552-1402].)

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