Nonito Donaire has held multiple world championships in four weight classes from flyweight to featherweight, and is the oldest boxer in history to win a bantamweight world title, as well as being the first three-time champion in that weight class.
81 Facts About Nonito Donaire
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In total, Nonito Donaire has held nine world titles by the main four boxing sanctioning bodies.
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Nonito Donaire has held the IBO flyweight title, the WBA interim super flyweight title, and the Ring magazine and lineal super bantamweight titles.
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Nonito Donaire is popularly known as "The Filipino Flash" due to his fast hand speed and punching power, and is a two-time winner of The Rings Knockout of the Year award, in 2007 and 2011.
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Nonito Donaire reached a peak pound for pound ranking of third by The Ring in 2011, and was named Fighter of the Year in 2012 by the Boxing Writers Association of America.
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Nonito Donaire is one of a select few Asian boxers to win world titles in at least four weight classes, along with fellow Filipinos Manny Pacquiao and Donnie Nietes.
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Until he was six years of age, Nonito Donaire lived in General Santos and attended the same school as future eight-division world champion, Manny Pacquiao.
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Nonito Donaire was a child of small stature and was bullied.
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Nonito Donaire's father was an amateur boxer who competed in the US in the early 1990s.
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Nonito Donaire's paternal grandfather was born in Hawaii, and this gave Donaire American citizenship under the principle of jus Sanguinis.
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In 1993, at the age of eleven, Nonito Donaire joined his father in Van Nuys, California.
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Nonito Donaire said that during his childhood he wished for more attention from his parents and, after his brother started boxing, the attention was given to him.
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Nonito Donaire's father supported his choice as he felt it would keep Donaire off the streets.
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Nonito Donaire watched videos of his hero, Alexis Arguello, and from them he learned to throw a powerful left hook.
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Nonito Donaire won the 1999 International Junior Olympics gold medal.
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In 2001, after a controversial decision, Nonito Donaire lost his second fight against Rosendo Sanchez.
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On September 9,2002, in Guam, Nonito Donaire won his first regional title, the vacant WBO Asia Pacific flyweight title.
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Nonito Donaire knocked out Kaichon Sor Vorapin in the second round.
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On January 20,2006, Nonito Donaire won his second regional title, the NABF super flyweight title, by defeating Kahren Harutyunyan via split decision on ShoBox.
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On July 7,2007, Nonito Donaire won the IBF and IBO flyweight titles with a one-punch, fifth-round knockout of the then undefeated Vic Darchinyan.
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On July 31,2007, Nonito Donaire met Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
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In late June 2008, Nonito Donaire severed his association with his promoter, Gary Shaw.
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Nonito Donaire had not been offered the number of fights his contract demanded.
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Days after leaving Gary Shaw Productions, Nonito Donaire signed a contract with Top Rank Boxing.
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On November 2,2008, Nonito Donaire made the second defense of his titles with a sixth-round TKO of Moruti Mthalane.
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Nonito Donaire was to fight Hugo Fidel Cazares on August 15,2009, but negotiations failed.
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On February 13,2010, Nonito Donaire fought Manuel Vargas in the first defense of his WBA interim title.
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Nonito Donaire fought his last bout in the super flyweight division against Hernan Marquez.
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Nonito Donaire won the match with a TKO in the eighth round.
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On December 4,2010, Nonito Donaire challenged the former WBA bantamweight champion, Volodymyr Sydorenko for the vacant WBC Continental Americas bantamweight title.
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Nonito Donaire knocked down Sydorenko three times and became the first man to defeat the boxer.
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On February 19,2011, Nonito Donaire defeated Montiel in the second round to capture the WBC and WBO bantamweight titles.
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Nonito Donaire took a right to the head from Montiel, then immediately countered with a left to the head that knocked his opponent down.
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Montiel rose to continue before Nonito Donaire rushed over to land a left and a right.
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Nonito Donaire was given a third place in Ring Magazine's "pound for pound" rankings.
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On February 28,2011, resolutions moved by Pia Cayetano and Manuel Lapid were passed by the senate of the Philippines that Nonito Donaire be congratulated and commended for being an outstanding Filipino boxer and for bringing honor and pride to the country.
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On October 22,2011, Nonito Donaire made his New York debut, beating the previously undefeated two-division world champion, Omar Narvaez, via UD at Madison Square Garden in New York.
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Nonito Donaire landed sixty percent of his power shots and out-landed Vazquez Jr in rounds one to five and seven to twelve and was awarded the WBO super bantamweight title.
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Nonito Donaire became the second Filipino to win championships in four weight divisions.
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On July 7,2012, Nonito Donaire fought in a unification bout against IBF super bantamweight champion Jeffrey Mathebula.
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Nonito Donaire defeated Mathebula by UD, knocking him down in round four and breaking his jaw in two places.
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On October 13,2012, in Carson, California, Nonito Donaire fought Toshiaki Nishioka who had been ranked first in his division by Ring magazine.
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Nonito Donaire officially relinquished the IBF super bantamweight title hours before the fight by declining to participate in the IBF's mandated weight check.
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On December 15,2012, in Houston, Texas, Nonito Donaire retained his titles against Jorge Arce with a third-round KO.
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Nonito Donaire had already knocked down Arce in the second and third rounds.
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Nonito Donaire knocked Rigondeaux down once in the tenth round en route to a UD defeat, losing his WBO and Ring titles and ending his twelve year winning streak.
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In November 2013, Nonito Donaire fought Vic Darchinyan in non-title fight that was a rematch of their 2007 fight.
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Nonito Donaire started strong, but Darchinyan mounted a comeback in the middle rounds to take the lead on two of the official scorecards.
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However, in the ninth round, Nonito Donaire was able to drop Darchinyan with a left hook.
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Nonito Donaire knocked down Vetyeka in the fourth round after landing his signature left hook.
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On October 18,2014, Nonito Donaire made the first defense of his WBA title against undefeated WBA champion Nicholas Walters.
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Nonito Donaire rocked Walters heavily early on, but other than that had little success and was dropped twice before the referee stopped the fight.
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On March 28,2015, Nonito Donaire returned to the super bantamweight division and defeated William Prado in two rounds to secure the vacant NABF super bantamweight title at the Araneta Coliseum in the Philippines.
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Nonito Donaire continued his attack at the beginning of the second round and the fight was stopped.
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On July 18,2015, Nonito Donaire defeated Anthony Settoul in two rounds via stoppage at The Venetian Macao in Macau.
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On December 11,2015, Nonito Donaire reclaimed the vacant WBO super bantamweight title, defeating Cesar Juarez by UD.
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Nonito Donaire began to slow down due to fatigue and an ankle injury, as Juarez picked up the pressure.
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Nonito Donaire defended the WBO title successfully against Zsolt Bedak via third-round TKO in Cebu City, Philippines on April 23,2016.
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Nonito Donaire lost to Jessie Magdaleno as the co-main event on Manny Pacquiao vs Jessie Vargas PPV bout on November 5,2016.
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On March 8,2017, Top Rank and Nonito Donaire agreed to end their partnership after an eight-year run with only about a month remaining in the contract.
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On July 25,2017, Nonito Donaire signed with Richard Schaefer's Ringstar Sports.
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On September 23,2017, Nonito Donaire returned to featherweight and defeated Ruben Garcia Hernandez via UD to win the vacant WBC Silver featherweight title at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.
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In December 2017, Nonito Donaire came up as a potential opponent for Carl Frampton after the announcement from promoter Frank Warren.
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Nonito Donaire was cut over his right after an accidental clash of heads in round seven, with the referee failing to call a time-out.
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Nonito Donaire was chosen by top-seeded Ryan Burnett as his opponent in the quarter finals.
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Burnett looked to have taken the first two rounds as Nonito Donaire reset on the third and began to box smarter.
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Nonito Donaire showed respect to Burnett by going straight to Burnett's corner to give him some words of encouragement instead of celebrating.
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Nonito Donaire captured the WBA bantamweight title and moved on to the semifinals of the WBSS to face WBO champion Zolani Tete.
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Nonito Donaire made use of his jab to outbox Young in the succeeding rounds and put a final stamp in the sixth round with a counter-left hook that landed flush on Young's jaw, immediately knocking him out.
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On November 8,2019, Nonito Donaire faced Naoya Inoue for the WBSS final in Japan.
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Nonito Donaire was scheduled to face Emmanuel Rodriguez for the WBC bantamweight title on December 19,2020, at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Montville, Connecticut.
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Nonito Donaire was scheduled to face Nordine Oubaali, who was replaced by Rodriguez after Oubaali tested positive for COVID-19.
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On May 29,2021, Nonito Donaire faced Nordine Oubaali for the WBC bantamweight title at the Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California.
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Nonito Donaire scored a knockdown twice in the third round before finishing the bout in the fourth round with a hook-straight-uppercut combination.
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On June 19,2021, it was announced that Nonito Donaire would replace Guillermo Rigondeaux to face WBO bantamweight champion John Riel Casimero on August 14 in a unification bout.
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Nonito Donaire was knocked out in the second round, after being knocked down twice.
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Nonito Donaire would have a shot at being world champion again at age 40.
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Nonito Donaire's wife is a member of his team and her father is his chief of security.
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Nonito Donaire recovered and her then-unborn second child, Logan, was unharmed.
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Nonito Donaire has appeared on television as a guest and has appeared on Celebrity Duets in third-season episodes on GMA.
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Nonito Donaire is featured in the video games Fight Night Round 4 and Fight Night Champion.