Nobody forgets his first time.
Andre Ward first got into the ring to spar when he was 10, and he remembers getting beat something fierce by a 15-year-old kid named Glenn at Hayward's U.S. Karate and Boxing Gym.
Muhammad Ali once said he could float like a butterfly and sting like a bee. Young Ward ran like a cheetah and covered up like a turtle.
"Glenn gave it to me good, whipped my butt," Ward said. "But I kept coming back, and I would start to get one punch in before I ran. Then two punches and run. And I went from there."
Glenn had a little brother, Nonito Donaire, who was 11 1/2 when he signed up at the gym - three months after Ward did, in June 1994.
Donaire signed up for karate classes, thinking boxing was too violent. Ultimately, he said he bowed to pressure from his dad, a former fighter, and his brother and ... well, Donaire will never forget his first amateur boxing match.
"I was 13 and they were putting the gloves on, and I was freaking out I was so scared," Donaire said. "I peed in my pants as I was going into the ring. Then, the fight started, the other kid hit me and that triggered something."
Did it ever. Oakland's Ward and San Leandro's Donaire trained together, became friends and then world champions. Ward defends his WBA super middleweight title tonight against Arthur Abraham in the semifinals of the Super Six World Boxing Classic in Carson (Los Angeles County). Donaire is the WBC and WBO bantamweight champ after knocking out Fernando Montiel in the second round in February.
"It's just unbelievable where we are in our careers," Ward said. "We all dreamed of being world champions, but you can't ever truly imagine what it's going to turn out to be. This is awesome."
U.S. Karate and Boxing Gym is in its 22nd year at its current location and going strong, just like 61-year-old Joe Olivarez. Olivarez was a street fighter who trained as an amateur boxer in Mexico before discovering the martial arts. He met his wife, Crystal, at a karate class in Hayward in 1970 and was immediately down for the count.
"She was beautiful and then she started talking about the fight that was going to be on TV that week," Olivarez said. "I said, 'Whaaaat?' "
They opened their first version of the school in 1984, moving to the current location in '89. Then one year, two future world champions walked in. Olivarez remembers Ward and Donaire being different types of kids, but the same.
"Andre was an old soul, always serious, and Nonito was the comedian," Olivarez said. "But they both had a smoothness to their fighting, and they both worked very hard at it."
Virgil Hunter started working with Ward at Olivarez's gym and will be in Ward's corner tonight as his trainer. He said other kids - including Donaire - would call Ward "Poppa" when he was 11 years old.
"That's how he carried himself," Hunter said. "He had his fun, but he was always deep in thought more than other kids. Nonito doesn't take anything too seriously, but he has fun at becoming better and better - he takes that very seriously."
Like the time, four years ago, when Donaire sparred at Olivarez's gym with Danny Kimbrell, who trains mixed-martial-arts fighters there. Kimbrell already had a cauliflower ear from one of Donaire's famous left hooks, and one day Donaire said he could beat Kimbrell for four rounds throwing nothing but jabs.
"It was like a sewing machine, the sound his fist was making against my face," Kimbrell said, laughing.
Donaire wasn't always having fun. He said the pressure he felt from his dad, once a boxer, trainer and now a professional cut-man, could be overwhelming. He stopped boxing at the end of 2001, four fights in, because it wasn't fun anymore and started making up for the partying and drinking he missed in his teenage years.
"Poppa" Ward was watching, though, and one day when he was giving him a ride, he pulled over and had a serious talk with Donaire.
"He wasn't boxing, just trying to find his way, and I told him he wasn't the guy I knew," Ward said. "I reminded him, 'Hey, God has a calling on your life and it's not just boxing, but I believe you still have a lot to give in boxing. Get yourself cleaned up, straighten up, man, and don't give up.'
"I kind of gave him a little jolt."
Donaire said the talk "had a big impact ... Andre was always there for me."
Donaire got back into boxing, ultimately deciding that he and his father couldn't get past their tension. He is now trained by Robert Garcia, and is even drawing comparisons to Manny Pacquiao after his devastating knockout of Montiel.
Ward was there in Las Vegas that night, beaming and saying he couldn't wait to get back into the ring and try to turn in a dominant performance like his friend's.
"To see Nonito do his thing - he can rewrite the history books if he keeps winning," Ward said. "He always inspires me. He says I inspire him and I helped him out back then, but he inspires me to be the best that I can be. Always has - back when we were in Hayward."
Back in Hayward, Olivarez is working with some new kids, showing them the discipline that boxing and karate can instill in someone. You would think he would have the names Ward and Donaire somewhere on the front window or on a new sign, to help drum up some more business, but that's not the eighth-degree black belt's style.
"I would never take advantage of my fighters like that," Olivarez said. "People eventually find out that they started here. I am just honored to have been a part of their lives and development into champions.
"And because they are great guys. It really touches my heart. ... Sometimes I can't find the words to describe how amazing it is."
Super 6 Classic
What: Andre Ward (23-0) vs. Arthur Abraham (32-2)
Where: Home Depot Center, Carson (Los Angeles County)
When: 7 p.m.
TV: Showtime, taped at 10 p.m.
