Michael Zerafa has unveiled the fight team that will help him go “steal the show” on one of the biggest weekends in Australian boxing history – and it includes a future Hall of Famer’s wife dubbed ‘The Boss Lady’.
In a surprise twist to his showdown with WBA middleweight champ Erislandy Lara, Fox Sports Australia can reveal Zerafa has invited both Nonito Donaire and wife Rachel to be in his corner at T Mobile Arena this Sunday (AEST).
Apart from acting as her husband’s manager for years, Rachel Donaire was also famously head corner for the ‘Filipino Flash’ three years ago when he claimed the WBC bantamweight title from Nordine Oubaali.
Speaking from inside the MGM Grand this week, Zerafa said he planned to have both Donaires in his corner when takes part in one of the biggest weekends in Australian boxing history.
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Fighting on the undercard of Tim Tszyu’s hyped title fight against Sebastian Fundora, Zerafa has promised to capture the attention of world boxing.
While Tszyu has already suggested he will likely “fall asleep” during the Zerafa bout, his longtime rival is promising the biggest performance of his career as a +250 underdog.
The fighter dubbed ‘Pretty Boy’ has also confirmed 41-year-old Nonito Donaire, the Filipino legend who has held multiple world titles in four world classes from flyweight to featherweight, will officially be his head coach for the fight.
Yet in a surprise move, the Australian will also have Rachel Donaire both in his corner and assisting with decisions right throughout fight week.
Asked about the move, Zerafa said Rachel was not only “tough” but “gets what she wants” for her clients — which also includes former two-weight champion Jessie Vargas.
Zerafa went on to say that despite initially approaching Donaire, the fighter, to act in an advisory role, he was blessed to have both members of the family in a corner that is now “like a family”.
As part of preparations for his showdown with Lara, the fighter has spent months working, training and planning with the ‘Filipino Flash’ – who he initially met at a 2022 WBA convention and “immediately clicked”.
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Zerafa said that given Donaire, like Lara, is a southpaw, he feels the former champ is the perfect person to help him break down his 40-year-old Cuban rival.
As part of preparations, Zerafa initially flew Donaire down to Melbourne for the first weeks of his camp before then jetting into the world’s fight capital himself for the past two weeks.
Asked about the unique partnership with the former world champion, Zerafa said: “We’re like best mates and he wanted to be part of my camp.
“It started out as an advisory role but he’s now much more hands on and become my head trainer.
“The great thing is, (Donaire) knows Lara really well.
“He’s been in camps and seen him train, been at the same gym, knows he is crafty, long … and we’ve worked hard on the movements we will have to implement on fight night.
“Nonito says Lara will walk straight up to me and try to knock me out.
“And that’s what we want because I’m not going to move.
“I’m going to stand centre ring as well.
“If he wants to fight, so be it.”
And as for also having Rachel Donaire?
“She’s something special,” Zerafa insisted.
“She manages Nonito, Jessie Vargas, a few other big name fighters so she’s tough, man.
“Gets exactly what she wants.
“And we’re all a family.
“There are no outside voices for this camp. Just a small circle of people.”
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Speaking with The Ring back in 2021, Donaire explained the decision to make Rachel his head corner came after his 2019 loss to Japanese superstar Naoya Inoue.
“Rachel works with me on everything,” he said of the wife with whom he shares two sons and teasingly calls The Boss Lady.
“I create the work strategy and Rachel refines it, makes everyone in my corner understand it.
“She’ll make adjustments and we’ll have a conversation to make a better game plan.
“To be honest, I always wanted Rachel to be in the corner, she just wasn’t comfortable with it.
“She always felt uncomfortable, because I shut everyone else out talking in the corner. It’s her voice I always tuned into … she reminds me what I need to see, and we understand each other really well.”
When Donaire, at 38, iced Oubaali to become the oldest bantamweight champion in history, it is also understood to have made his wife the first female head trainer of a successful male world boxing champion.
The partnership is also one Zerafa now believes, coupled with his own hunger, drive and development as a fighter, that will also take him to a world title.
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“I’m ready to steal the show,” Zerafa said of a weekend that will see himself, Tszyu and Queensland’s Liam Wilson all throw down in huge fights.
“I respect Lara, I’ve been a big fan of his for a while and am grateful to be sharing the ring with him.
“But this is a very winnable fight for me.
“And while I realise it’s not prime Lara – he’s 40 — but he is still very dangerous, very slick and he’s coming to prove a point.
“But I feel this is everything I’ve worked for comes down to this fight.”
Speaking previously with US boxing writer Kevin Iole about their unique bond, Rachel said one of their biggest moments came, ironically, during her husband’s famed 2013 rematch against Australian Vic Darchinyan.
She explained how, during the fight, Nonito glanced over towards her ringside and she delivered some brutally honest words.
“He looked over and said ‘You’re losing the fight,’” she recalled.
“Then he went out and knocked Darchinyan out.
“When he came to the dressing room, everyone is giving him high fives and excited about what had happened.
“He had come over and asked my opinion and I said, ‘You don’t want to hear my opinion right now.’
“He asked me why and I said, ‘I don’t know what you were trying to do. I don’t know if you’re trying to get brain damage, but I’m not here for this. I’m not going to watch that happen.’
“He was upset with me for a while.”
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Yet eventually, Nonito agreed with Rachel’s analysis that the fighter was too focused on his undeniable power, rather than continually improving his defence.
Rachel also revealed she had taken plenty of abuse on social media for her role in managing her husband, first with the legendary Cameron Dunkin and then later on her own.
“I was branded these horrible names, these really awful, sexist names,” she said.
“And [training him] was a whole different side.
“There have been managers who are women, but this being such a male-dominated sport, I knew it was going to be a lot harder.
“It’s a brutal sport and people were going to question what I knew. Most women don’t get the respect for their knowledge of a sport, not just boxing but all sports, that they really deserved.
“I knew it was going to be tough.”
Now this Sunday (AEST), she joins the corner of Zerafa, who is looking to upset Lara as a +250 underdog with Las Vegas bookmakers.
Lara, meanwhile, is the -325 favourite.