Plenty has changed since four-division champion Nonito Donaire first embarked on his professional career almost a quarter century ago. But even now, at age 42, Donaire has found that some things stay the same:

He’s still just a fighter looking for a good scrap.

Donaire, 42-8 (28 KOs), has been out of the ring since being outpointed by Alexandro Santiago in July 2023 – but it’s not for lack of trying. He has negotiated with Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez (and, according to Donaire, Juan Francisco Estrada); flirted with Sunny Edwards on social media; and made his case with the WBA to be granted the top-five status that could help him land a title shot. So far, no dice.

“For, like, a year and a half, we've been planning to get a fight with Chocolatito and Estrada and all of those guys,” Donaire said, aiming for engagements with fellow future Hall of Famers. “You know, there were talks here and there. But when it came down to finalizing it, they opted to step out and not fight me. So that's the unfortunate thing.

“Now I'm just trying to create a fight for myself to get in the ring. Man, that's the main goal right now – to get in the ring.”

Donaire, who won 30 fights in a row while dominating four divisions from the early 2000s through the early 2010s, is clearly a step behind the fighter he was in his heyday. And he has been through more than enough wars for three fighters – including his two epic clashes with Naoya Inoue.

Yet to this day, no one has proven a greater threat to Inoue in the ring than late-stage Donaire. Although Inoue clobbered him in a second-round stoppage in Saitama, Japan, in 2022, Donaire defied all expectations in their first meeting, in the same venue, three years prior. Despite being 11 years older than his in-his-prime opponent, Donaire battered Inoue, bloodying his nose, cutting him and breaking his orbital bone – an injury that Inoue later admitted gave him “shivers” to recall. Donaire lost a decision but won Inoue’s respect, as well as most Fight of the Year awards.

And although that meeting initiated a stretch of three losses against just two wins over his past five fights, Donaire says he isn’t done with Inoue:

“I want another dance with ‘The Monster.’”

The clock is ticking, but Donaire has a plan – a predictably ambitious one – that involves overthrowing bantamweight king Junto Nakatani to set up a trilogy fight with arguably the best pound-for-pound fighter on the planet.

“But I’ve gotta get myself up there, you know?” he said. “I want to fight the champion in 118, Nakatani, and then maybe get an undisputed shot and take all the belts – and I know I can do it – when I go up and fight The Monster. This is the game plan that I'm foreseeing for myself.”

Jason Langendorf is the former Boxing Editor of ESPN.com, was a contributor to Ringside Seat and the Queensberry Rules, and has written about boxing for Vice, The Guardian, Chicago Sun-Times and other publications. A member of the Boxing Writers Association of America, he can be found at LinkedIn and followed on X and Bluesky.