Donaire set for co-main event

BY MIKE HOUSER

Appeal Sports Writer

When Glenn Donaire found out he was going to fight Jose Albuquerque in a rematch, he felt like he had just hit the lottery.

"I made a joke in the gym when I signed the contract: I ran up the stairs and said, 'Am I really fighting? Am I really fighting?'" Donaire said on Wednesday. "I'm just so happy I'm fighting."

Donaire and Albuquerque will meet Feb. 22 in the six-round co-main event of "The War for the West" at the Grande Exposition Ballroom in the Silver Legacy Resort Casino.

To understand why the 28-year-old Donaire, of San Leandro, Calif., via General Santos City in The Philippines, is so ecstatic to get back in the ring with Albuquerque, one has to review the last 16 months of his life.

A unanimous decision over Cesar Lopez earned Donaire the opportunity to fight then undefeated punching machine and IBF flyweight champion Vic Darchinyan on Oct. 7, 2006.

Darchinyan knocked down Donaire and broke his jaw in the third round before the fight was stopped in the sixth, although it was ruled a technical decision instead of technical knockout.

"I still fought on, but I wasn't able to get in like I usually do," said Donaire, 16-3-1 with 9 knockouts. "He hit me with an elbow and broke a tooth. I spit blood on his face and we kind of looked at each other. I think he knew my jaw was broken.

"He was just way to big for me. I hit him with a body shot and it didn't even hurt him. He was way too strong. I knew right then I had to fight in the right weight class."

For Donaire, that meant dropping from 112 pounds to the light flyweight division limit of 108.

Donaire was fortunate in that he didn't need his jawed wired shut and he healed rapidly - he was already training the following January and sparring a month after that - but his luck didn't carry over to earning a paycheck in the ring.

Donaire said more than a half-dozen fights fell through over the next year.

"Imagine how stressed and depressed I was," he said. "It's my livelihood, my goal and my dream. My brother (Nonito) is a fighter. I have two kids (daughter Abigail and son Glenn Joshua). I asked, 'Is boxing really for me?'"

Donaire began fighting when he was 14 under the guidance of his father, Nonito Donaire Sr., and was a reported 60-8 as an amateur. He said his career was held up because he had to wait on receiving his green card and thus was disqualified from the 1998 National Golden Gloves and U.S. Championships, which he said hurt his cachet.

"It's why I wasn't known at the national level," said Donaire, who said he twice dropped Brian Viloria, who defeated him in the championship finals of the 2000 Olympic Trials. "He said he beat us (Glenn and Nonito), but I knocked him down with a body shot and a straight right hand, but he held himself up on the ropes."

Viloria had earlier beaten Nonito in the semifinals of the Trials and went on to fight in the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia. He subsequently turned pro and won the WBC light flyweight championship.

Nonito, for his part, has had a stellar professional career and avenged Glenn's loss by knocking out Darchinyan in a shocking upset last year. Shocking to most everyone but Glenn, that is.

"I told Showtime (which televised the fight) that Nonito would knock him out with one punch," Glenn said. "Before our fight, Darchinyan said he'd knock me out and after that he was going to knock out Nonito. I told him, 'When you fight my brother, he's going to play with you and knock you out.'"

Which is exactly what happened when Nonito flattened Darchinyan with a single left hook in the fifth round in July.

"I'm not playing with you - my brother gets up to 130-140 pounds before he drops to 122," Donaire said. "At most I'm 118, 119."

Having sparred Nonito and fought Darchinyan, Glenn said he knew what was going to happen when the pair met. He also insists that he has no rivalry with his little brother, who has risen to fame with the win - especially in the Filipino community.

"I'll take a lie detector test or whatever - we support each other," said Donaire, who lives with his parents. "I promise my family that I will get (a world title) too."

Now that he's back in the ring, he'll start that quest with Albuquerque, 8-2-2 (2), with whom he fought to a six-round majority draw in March 2006.

"You know, it's not an easy fight - it's no joke," Donaire said of Albuquerque, a 2000 Olympian for Brazil. "But I don't back down from anyone. (In their first fight), one of the judges had me winning. I knocked him down twice, but the referee didn't count it. In the last round, he grabbed the rope to stay up. There's supposed to be a standing-eight count, but the referee didn't (give one).

"I never complain. I didn't tell anyone what happened. This fight I want a knockout and get back to my old self and knock out people like I used to."

Knocking out other boxers is what earned Donaire his ring name of the "Filpino Bomber." He feels at 108 pounds his power will be even more pronounced.

Donaire was once ranked No.2 by the WBO and No. 13 by the IBF at flyweight. At 108, he said he wants to win a world title for other reasons than self-pride.

"I want people to know my dad is one of the best trainers in the world," he said. "He took two fighters from scratch and one won a world title. If I become a world champion, my whole family is a world champion.

"I was on the brink of quitting. My family supported me. They keep me up. I still have that dream."

Yerington's Jesse Brinkley, 29-5 (20), will meet Sacramento's Otis Griffin, 18-2-2 (7), in the 12-round headliner for the WBC United States National Boxing Championship belt.

McDermitt brothers Derek and Tyler Hinkey will also be on the card, which is presented by Let's Get It On Promotions.

Tickets are $150, $75 and $30. They are available at the Silver Legacy box office, by calling (800) 687-8733 or by logging on to www.ticketmaster.comDoors open at 6 p.m. The first of six scheduled bouts begins at 7.