Nonito Donaire Says Rachel Has Taken ‘A Lot Of Hits When All She Did Was Fight For Me’

Behind every man’s success is a woman, they say.

In Nonito Donaire's case, the Filipino-American world boxing champion has his wife and mother of their two kids Rachel Donaire as his manager and, recently, as his trainer.

Nonito won two World Boxing Council (WBC) title bouts this 2021: over French fighter Nordine Oubaali in May and against fellow Pinoy pride Reymart Gaballo just last December 11.

Subsequently, Rachel has been nominated by the WBC for Trainer of the Year.

"It's amazing just to be mentioned," Rachel said in an interview with TFC News Los Angeles. "I think of course, the other coaches have been around for so long. They have an amazing stable of fighters."

"I hope this pushes a lot of other women to step up on to the stage and to be part of camps and to be head trainers. We do have women head trainers and it just hasn't been to a world title fight yet. I'm sure there will be way more after this."

Rachel, a former taekwondo champion and model, also talked about how she ended up as the manager and trainer of her husband of 13 years.

"What really turned me, first of all, in the managing part and all the other stuff is because of the fact that boxing is known to be a dirty businesses," she explained. "If you align yourselves with the wrong teams, things can happen whether it's through sponsorships, promoters, or managers, and things fall through the cracks and end up affecting the family in the long run."

She added, "For the last 13 years, he's always looked at me when I was sitting ringside and he would listen to me but I'm never in the corner. It gave us an opportunity during the pandemic to sit down and watch tapes together, really have discussions on it, and it was starting to see what I'm seeing  so let's give this a shot and see what happens."

For his part, Nonito is mighty proud of Rachel, whom he calls, in his Instagram posts, as "Queen."

He actually gushed over her in his #womancrushwednesday post last June, giving a shout-out to the (yes, all caps) "FIRST EVER FEMALE HEAD TRAINER TO COACH A WORLD CHAMPION and..... #ANDNEW WBC CHAMPION TRAINER BELT recipient."

Nonito shared a bit of what Rachel has been through managing and training him: "Throughout camp we had numerous conversations on strategy and also shifting or changing strategy as to how she sees it would work.

"Not only that, she helped me to be able to perform best inside the ring by pushing me with all the strength and conditioning and speed and agility drills. Then she steps into final sparring rounds so I can practice distance on a similar height and distance (No I didn't hit her lol).

"Finally as a voice in the corner, all were instructed she was the only one to talk. I could hear her voice above everyone so it makes it easier for me to stay focused on the game plan rather than making it a more difficult night."

The prizefighter called Filipino Flash pointed out, "I am grateful to my Queen for all that she does, not only in the gym but also the house to make camp run smoothly. Let me say, that it has NOT been easy for her being a female in this sport.

"She's taken alot of hits for being my manager and trainer. Called a b*tch and saying she doesn't know fighting when she was a champion in her own right when all she did was fight for me. I am grateful that now she is getting the respect she's always deserved for being in my corner."

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