By Ronnie Nathanielsz
WBO super bantamweight champion Nonito “The Filipino Flash” Donaire began sparring on Monday in preparation for his title defense against Hungarian Olympian Zsolt Bedak 23 at the Cebu City Sports Center on April 23.
Donaire went four rounds with unbeaten Michigan featherweight, 25 year old Raeese Aleem on his first day of sparring and according to Nonito’s trainer/father “Dodong” Donaire he “did well” but indicated “ we need more, more sparring and Nonito needs to throw more punches not just depend on his power.”
“Dodong” said they picked Aleem because “he is faster than previous sparring partner Fredrick Bowen who is kind of slow for Nonito.”
Aleem’s most impressive win was against super featherweight Jose Silveria a veteran of 31 fights in August 2015 when he scored a shutout over four rounds.
Donaire will spar again today at the Top Rank Gym in Las Vegas.
In a recent interview with The Standard, Nonito described his opponent Zsolt Bedak as an “overall good fighter who has speed and pretty decent power if he wants to but is more of a technical fighter than anything else. They want to beat you on points but we won’t allow this. We know what we have to do.”
Donaire committed he would be “100 percent ready for this fight. No excuses. I am looking for people to see my potential. We are coming out with all the weapons. We are going to bring it out.”