One day in preschool a little boy was beaten up and went home crying but his dad told him to stop crying about it and go beat him up. 

After that uplifting talk a few days later he decided to come back the next day and beat that bully up. Getting beat up is not exactly anyones shining moment but for this person it was the start of his career. 

Donnovan Nolasea started training at the age of three and had his first fight at ten and since then he has been working to get his professional shot one day. 

That day game soon enough when he made his first professional boxing debut on Friday, Feb. 21 at Celebrity Theatre. Where he will be competing in the heavyweight division where he went up against Anetelea Opetaia. This fight was not originally scheduled. He is a fill in because Opetaias’ original opponent had fallen out because he did not make the weight requirement for the fight. He was seen as a prospect and was asked to fight him. At the moment Nolasea is an unpromoted boxer considering this will be his first pro fight but he is looking to get signed with Iron Boy after this fight. 

Before his debut he had 76 fights; 56 sanctioned and 46 unsanctioned. He has not lost any of his amateur fights and he had two draws. 

His dad is one of his biggest inspirations because without that advice it probably would not have put him on his path to boxing. Another inspiration is Professional boxer Tyson Fury.

“I adapted a similar fighting style as him,” Nolasea said. For Nolasea his right and left hooks are his strongest hits. 

He does a lot of his training at Knockout Fitness because he currently has a job there but when he needs extra workout he goes to his trainer, Damien Stone and trains out of his garage along with his cornerman Valdez Martin. 

“Training Donnovan was easy because he is very attentive and a hard worker,” his trainer Damien Stone says.

After high school Nolasea is going to continue to pursue boxing. He is planning on being part of the boxing club at Arizona State University. 

“The injury motive in boxing is kind of outrageous, there’s not that many injuries. I was injured more in both baseball and football than boxing, you get bruised up though,” Noleasa said. 

Friday night with just three rounds he won by decision 30-27. He threw 270 and landed 230 punches. Since the fight was by decision Nolesea will receive $2,000. 

“I’m not proud of this fight, there’s still a lot I can do and I’m still gonna eat, I’m gonna eat until I’m full,” Nolasea said. 

Although he did not get any knockouts this win paves the way for many more opportunities and promotions. For Donnovan Nolasea this is just the beginning of his boxing career.