MANILA, Philippines – Now that his fight has been shoved as the main event of the “In Harm's Way” fight card, Filipino-American boxer Nonito “The Filipino Flash” Donaire will make sure that spectators will have fun watching his bout against former world champion Wladimir Sidorenko of Ukraine on Saturday (Sunday in Manila).
The Donaire-Sidorenko fight became the main header of the fight card after Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. pulled out because of high fever.
Chavez Jr., the son of legendary Mexican boxer and namesake Julio Cesar Chavez Sr., was supposed to fight US –based Pawel Wolak.
“I really plan to be as risky as I can and to entertain everyone and just have fun with it,” said Donaire, currently the No. 5 pound-for-pound boxer in the world based on the Ring Magazine’s list.
Donaire, the former International Boxing Federation (IBF) and International Boxing Organization (IBO) flyweight champion, needs to win against Sirodenko to maintain a bantamweight title shot against Mexican champion Fernando Montiel in February next year.
Sidorenko, meanwhile, is the former World Boxing Association (WBA) bantamweight champion.
He expects a hard fight in Donaire, which is why he sparred with the Filipino’s bitter rival, WBA and World Boxing Council (WBC) super flyweight champion Vic Darchinyan.
“I don't want to describe what I'm going to do in the ring but I can promise you the fight is going to be tough,” Sidorenko said through a translator.
Donaire, however, said the Ukrainian will have a tough time figuring him out.
“He's sparring a wrong fight, that's all I can say. Maybe because they're expecting me to fight lefty. That’s fine. That's one thing they have to fight now. That's why I brought in the fight last time as a left hander. They have to understand I have more than one thing and there's so many ways to figure me out,” said the Filipino-American.
His trainer, Robert Garcia, said despite the late start to training camp, the Filipino Flash is well ready for the ring.
Garcia joined Donaire just 2 weeks ago after heading Antonio Margarito’s corner in the Mexican’s fight against Manny Pacquiao.
“He's mentally and physically ready. He's in tremendous shape. He sparred 12 rounds like five or six times he did them without any trouble, he didn't get tired. Beautiful boxing, I think,” said the Mexican trainer.
