Donaire confident to regain crown

MANILA, Philippines — There’s a planned motorcade for Nonito Donaire Jr. in Manila when he arrives a few days after his fight against Mexico’s Alejandro Santiago for the vacant WBC bantamweight title at the Chelsea Ballroom of the Cosmopolitan Hotel, Las Vegas on July 15, and it’s a sign of confidence that the Filipino Flash will bring home the belt that was once his.

Donaire, 40, recently spent three months in the country, mainly in Cebu to prepare for Santiago. It was difficult to find sparmates who approximate the 5-2 1/2 Santiago’s size in the US so the Las Vegas-based Donaire decided to set up camp in Cebu to work with Filipino fighters. The decision turned out to be what the doctor ordered. Aside from tough sparring, Donaire found a close ally in the Omega Boxing Stable. Now in Scottsdale, Arizona for the last few days of training before facing Santiago, Donaire is joined in camp by Omega coach Julius Erving (Dr. J) Junco and IBF No. 4 lightflyweight Christian Araneta.

Santiago, 27, turned pro in October 2012 when Donaire was 27 with a 30-1 record and had already won the IBF/IBO flyweight, interim WBA superflyweight, WBC/WBO bantamweight and WBO superbantamweight titles. The Tijuana fighter is unbeaten in 22 of his last 23 since 2015, the only stain a loss by majority decision to Gary Antonio Russell. His record is 27-3-5, with 14 KOs compared to Donaire’s 42-7, with 28 KOs. Santiago was decked by Hector Calixto in losing a six-round decision in 2013 but has never been stopped. In 2018, he held IBF superflyweight champion Jerwin Ancajas to a split draw in his only bid to win a world crown.

Donaire hasn’t fought since losing to Naoya Inoue on a second-round TKO in June last year and despite the layoff, has stayed in shape with his Spartan lifestyle. Two of his last four fights were against Inoue and both setbacks were clouded by distractions. But no excuses. Donaire isn’t the type to bellyache and his only focus at the moment is to regain the WBC throne.