DODONG Donaire Sr., the trainer/father of five-division world champion Nonito “The Filipino Flash” Donaire, believes he can help the Philippines win its first gold medal in the Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games in August.
“I hope to help bring our country a gold medal. We have good talent to be able to accomplish that goal. We have the talent,” Donaire Sr. told The Standard.
Donaire Sr. chose lightweight Charly Suarez as a top choice in the gold-medal quest.
“Hopefully, welterweight Eumir Felix Marcial can also qualify and win a gold (in Rio),” he said.
The accomplished trainer said it is also his dream to help win the Philippines’ first Olympic gold medal in boxing.
“We have lots of time to go through our drills,” Donaire Sr. said.
The elite trainer said that during a recent training stint in the US, the boxers “got good sparring in Las Vegas.”
His son, Nonito Donaire Jr., who was training for his title defense against former 2004 Hungarian Olympian Zsolt Bedak, also helped out.
“The boxers looked impressive in sparring with the Mexican and American opponents, who were very tough and gave the Filipinos a lot of good sparring,” the veteran trainer said. “All the Filipinos are really good, but we need to continue to work with them.”
ABAP executive director Ed Picson described the US training camp as very productive.
“The the sparring sessions were lively and competitive and while our boxers impressed, there were some close skirmishes which can only serve them well as facing different opponents every time builds their resilience and confidence,” said Picson.
Donaire also said that his son, the WBO super bantamweight champion, has “no problems and is training hard and looking fine” as they get ready to leave for Cebu on Saturday to check out the environment at the Cebu Sports Center.