Nonito Donaire

Donaire was born in Talibon, Bohol, Philippines, the third of four children to Nonito C. Donaire Sr. (born 1959, South Cotabato) and Imelda M. Gonzales (born 1950, Talibon).

His older brother is former boxer Glenn Donaire, and his cousin is former boxer Richard Donaire.

Until he was six years of age, Donaire lived in General Santos and attended the same school as future eight-division world champion, Manny Pacquiao.

Donaire was a child of small stature and was bullied.

Nonito Gonzales Donaire Jr. (born November 16, 1982) is a Filipino American professional boxer.

He 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 (at age 38), as well as being the first three-time champion in that weight class.

Donaire's father was an amateur boxer who competed in the U.S. in the early 1990s.

His paternal grandfather was born in Hawaii, and this gave Donaire American citizenship under the principle of jus Sanguinis.

In 1993, at the age of eleven, Donaire joined his father in Van Nuys, California.

They later lived in San Leandro, California.

and San Mateo County, California.

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.

This was his reason for entering the sport of boxing at the age of eleven even though he did not enjoy it.

His father supported his choice as he felt it would keep Donaire off the streets.

During their younger years, Donaire and Glenn would spar.

Donaire also watched videos of his hero, Alexis Argüello, and from them he learned to throw a powerful left hook.

While enrolled at the San Lorenzo High School in San Lorenzo, California, both Nonito and Glenn won several regional and district amateur boxing championships.

In his first amateur bout, Nonito beat his opponent with straight punches, all the while thinking that "I'm going to kill him before he kills me."

However, Donaire had little confidence until he had five professional knockout victories.

As a young amateur, Donaire won three U.S. national championships: the National Silver Gloves (1998), National Junior Olympics (1999) and the National USA Tournament (2000).

He also won the 1999 International Junior Olympics gold medal.

Donaire's amateur record was 68–8 with 5 technical knockouts (TKOs).

Donaire has also held world championships in three consecutive decades: the 2000s, 2010s and 2020s, being the sixth boxer to do so after Evander Holyfield, Manny Pacquiao, Bernard Hopkins, Erik Morales, and Floyd Mayweather Jr.

In total, Donaire has held nine world titles by the main four boxing sanctioning bodies.

He has also held the International Boxing Organization (IBO) flyweight title, the World Boxing Association (WBA) interim super flyweight title, and the Ring magazine and lineal super bantamweight titles.

As of June 2021, Donaire is ranked as the world's second best active bantamweight by The Ring, the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board, BoxRec, and ESPN.

In 2001, Donaire and his brother became professional boxers.

They signed contracts with a promoter, Jackie Kallen.

Donaire was paid a monthly salary of $1,500.

In 2001, after a controversial decision, Donaire lost his second fight against Rosendo Sanchez.

On September 9, 2002, in Guam, Donaire won his first regional title, the vacant WBO Asia Pacific flyweight title.

He knocked out Kaichon Sor Vorapin in the second round.

On January 20, 2006, Donaire won his second regional title, the NABF super flyweight title, by defeating Kahren Harutyunyan via split decision (SD) on ShoBox.

Two judges scored the bout 97–92 for Donaire while the third scored it 95–94 for Harutyunan.

On October 7, 2006, Donaire defeated Oscar Andrade, a veteran boxer, by unanimous decision (UD) with the scorecards reading 118–109, 116–112, and 116–112.

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 Ring's Knockout of the Year award, in 2007 and 2011.

He 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.

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.

This impassioned him to win his fights which he did until April 2013.

After four professional bouts, Donaire and his brother left their contracts with Kallen and returned to Manila and then to San Leandro, where there were fewer distractions.