On Saturday night at the Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York, Nonito
Donaire defends his WBC and WBO bantamweight titles against Omar Narvaez. Eight
long months have passed since we last saw the “Filipino Flash” who was the talk
of the boxing industry after stopping Fernando Montiel on February 19th. What took place
between then and now seemed to stretch on forever.
First,
Donaire was involved in a tug-of-war for his services between Top Rank and
Golden Boy Promotions and was bogged down in litigation as the two companies did
battle. Finally, he re-upped with Top Rank (with whom he had an existing
promotional contract). It was a dispute that became very public and
personal between the factions. Worst of all, any momentum Donaire had built
ground to a halt.
“It needed
to happen,” he told Maxboxing last week. “It needed to happen. There's no
regrets on my part. It was something that I truly believed in. It needed to
happen and now, I've got a great team behind me and now, we're looking to map
out our game plan to who I want to fight and stuff like that and now, I'm here
and fighting. So everything's great.”
After his
scintillating outing in February, Top Rank had early plans to stage a Donaire
bout in late May on HBO but as it was announced that he was jumping ship,
that's when the mud started being flung from all directions. Donaire's wife,
Rachel, was in the center of much of this and she caused quite a stir when she
commented on how Manny Pacquiao's wife, Jinky, dressed. In response, Bob Arum
famously counterpunched that Mrs. Pacquiao dressed like a true lady and didn't
get all “tarted up.”
Arum
admits, “It went out of control, which is something I should know with all my
experience, is that when these incidents occur, if you carry on the battle
through the media, it's self-defeating.” The outspoken promoter eventually made
amends to Donaire’s wife for his comments. They made it clear; what happened in
the past is just that- in the past. “Absolutely, absolutely, and she was very
understandable and I apologized for what I said to her which I sincerely meant
and she knows and [Donaire] knows that we're going to make a huge effort to
make him the big star that he should be. And remember, when we were handling
him, originally, until his signature fight with Montiel, it was very, very
difficult. We were doing everything on our own dime. So with smaller guys,
that's what you gotta do and then, they have a huge victory in a big fight on a
premium network and then you're off to the races.”
The Donaires
were concerned that they would always live in the considerable shadow of the “Pac-Man”
and they firmly believed that several promises made to them by the promoter
were not met. In truth, before his match-up with Montiel, Donaire’s first
couple of years under the Top Rank banner were unfulfilled, to say the least.
They didn't want him to just be “the other Filipino boxer” in the stable.
According
to his manager, Cameron Dunkin, those issues have been assuaged. “I think so. I
was with him today (Tuesday) at Kingsway [Gym] and they were working out. I was
with them last night and they took some photos. He's bouncing. He's very happy.
[Rachel]'s happy. I think that they felt like everything is going the way they
always wanted it to. They feel that things are getting done now that weren't
getting done before.”
All this
came at a cost. During the conflict with Top Rank, Donaire and his wife became
cannon fodder for Filipino message boards. It seemed their crime was bringing
the beloved Pacquiao into the dispute and also disrespecting Arum (who, along
with General Douglas McArthur and Freddie Roach, is among the most favored
white men in all the Philippines). They were accused of being ungrateful and
disrespectful and there seems to be a faction of Filipinos that just won’t take
to Donaire.
“Like I
said, it doesn't matter if they do turn or anything like that,” said Donaire,
who visits his homeland quite often. “I'm glad for all my fans out there but
regardless, I will always, always, wave my flag proudly of who I am and that's
being a Filipino fighter. It doesn't matter, the issues. People have their own
issues. People make mistakes. People do stuff and they feel right about it,
whatever the outcome. If people decide that they don't favor me, it doesn't
hurt me because I'm going to go in there; I'm going to represent to the best of
my ability and be thankful of all the fans that supported me and keep waving my
flag as proud as I've done from the moment I stepped in the ring when I was
ten.”
But
everyone loves a winner (eventually), right?
“I guess
you could say that,” he answers. “I mean, in life, there's going to be yin-yang.
There's always going to be a negative and a positive, always going to be
someone who always support you and there's always going to be people who will
never ever support you- or haters, we call 'em these days. So y' know, that's
just how life goes. As long as you're happy with your performance, you go in
there with the best of your ability and you give the crowd and your fans the
thank you that they deserve. You go out there with a high head.
“I believe
there's going to be more and more people who are going to be willing to support
me as a fighter but there's always going to be fans and haters out there.”
As a
reconciliation with Top Rank was consummated a couple of months ago, a huge
weight was lifted off Donaire’s shoulders. At age 28, he's in his physical
prime. This is no time to go all Tavoris Cloud and die on the vine. “It was
definitely a relief to have a schedule but at that point, it was more of ‘I got
a good rest. Let's settle this down and let's move on,’” he explained of his
emotions in getting his career back on track. “It was kinda that mentality that
I had- I'm ready to fight now. And that's the decision that was made. It was
definitely a sigh of relief but like I said, there was nothing that was
regrettable in any part at all. Everything was just meant to happen.”
In terms of
making up for lost time, Arum says optimistically, “Well, I think he lost one
fight with all this stuff because he would've fought in May and he'd be
fighting this winter but we'll make it up next year because we'll have him
fighting- if he's successful [on Saturday]- probably in January or February and
we'll have him fighting three times next year, maybe four.”
Donaire is
considered one of the best boxers on the planet but in reality, that's based on
physical talent and potential more than actual production. However, the future
that is being mapped out could change all that.
“I'm very
excited. We have a lot of opportunities ahead,” said the young man who won
major world titles at flyweight and bantamweight. “We just gotta get past Omar
Narvaez but we got Toshiaki Nishioka. We got Jorge Arce and
even moving up to '26, maybe a Wilfredo Vazquez Jr., who's wanting to get back
in there. So there's just a lot of things going on at '22 that we're willing to
face. Whoever is willing to face me as well.”
The closest
that Donaire got to being inside the ring was acting as a photographer for
several shows. As the weeks and months passed and the scheduled fight moved on
without him, he admits to getting the itch to get back in there. The business
waits for no one.
He says, “I
did. I did, especially with good fights. You tend to want to go in there
because, man, ‘I should be in there,’ even the Nishioka-Marquez fight, knowing
these guys are possible future opponents. I was very, very antsy being there
ringside, taking photos. There is that excitement and it's good to have that
excitement and that eagerness to be in the ring.”
This new
chapter with Top Rank could be the launch of a memorable run.
“I do feel that way. I feel I'm just getting started in my career and I
like to challenge myself. I want to face the best out there, '22 and maybe '26
and if I can compete at '26 and conquer it, I'll move to '30. That's looking
ahead but of course, it's a goal. It's a dream. It's just a beginning from this
point on. I feel that way because I'm just getting on top and I know everybody
is gunning for me. Everybody is wanting to fight me and I like the challenge.”
PINOY APPLE
One of the
reasons why New York was chosen to host Donaire-Narvaez
(other than the two being bounced out of the Home Depot Center in Carson, California. It turns out that Golden
Boy objected to the event being placed on an AEG property so close to their “Believe
It or Not” promotions at the Staples Center) is very simple, according to Todd
DuBoef, President of Top Rank. “It's the second largest Filipino base, the New
York-New Jersey area, and we felt that bringing Nonito to that base would be
incredibly beneficial.”
Also, with
New York being such a large media market, Top Rank thought this was the ideal
spot for this particular event. Throughout the week, Donaire’s itinerary saw
him speak to the Filipino School of New York and New Jersey as
part of Filipino American History Month at the Jersey City Public
Library. A diplomatic reception with the Honorable Mario Lopez de Leon Jr., the PhilippinesConsul General, and a photo
shoot at the Empire State Building follow. It's a full plate,
all designed to raise his profile.
Many have
asked when Donaire, who grew up around the Bay Area in San Leandro, will
come back out West. DuBoef says, “That is a very natural progression and we'd love
to do it and I think a lot of it is trying to figure out the timing of the
year, the arenas available, what part of the Bay Area we're going to go. Is it San Jose? Is it Oakland? Is it San Francisco? All those types of things.
So that is obviously is a big-picture concept that we're working on, due to how
we were able to settle all of our differences, making everything happen,
getting our date situated with the network [HBO] that didn't necessarily allow
the Bay Area to blossom for this fight.”
Hey, if you
can make it here, you can make it anywhere.
“The first
time I stepped in New York, it's huge,” Donaire marveled. “It's just a huge
opportunity and I gotta show up that night. It's just exciting to present
myself out there in New York for the first time with all the Filipinos
supporting me and stuff like that and all the boxing fans. It's definitely
exciting. I'm looking forward to it.”
THRILLA
2012 could
see Donaire headlining a major show in his native country.
“One of the
things we're really looking forward to is June of next year. They're opening a
beautiful new arena in Manila called the
Mall of Asia. It's a 16,000 seat state-of-the-art building. It's part of a
shopping area and we're already beginning to make arrangements for Nonito to
star in the first event in that arena,” said Arum, who mentioned the card would
take place on a Sunday afternoon to accommodate American television.
SIDELINE
In a short
period of time, two of Dunkin's blue-chippers scored huge victories several weeks
apart to begin 2011. Just as quickly, Tim Bradley and Donaire were embroiled in
disputes with their promoters that essentially sidelined them for much of the
year from that point on.
When asked to
describe that ordeal, Dunkin quipped, “Expensive.”
But while
they both languished for months, it was a sacrifice that had to be made.
“In my opinion, the Bradley thing was a very necessary evil and it's something
that had to be done and had to happen to move forward. You had an unhappy
guy and an unhappy family. That's when they hired me to look out for them. So
you hated to do it. You always hate to do it but somehow you just gotta do it,”
said Dunkin, who struck a deal for Bradley to move to Top Rank after “Desert
Storm’s” deal with Gary Shaw expired.
OCTOBER
FLURRIES
Gordon Hall
of Showtime confirmed to me that Austin Trout- who holds a version of the WBA
154-pound title- will face Frank LoPorto as the main event on “ShoBox” on November 11. Also on that telecast, Jonathan
Gonzalez faces Gabriel Rosado and Michael Oliveira takes on
the always dangerous TBA...Roy Jones is never going to quit, is he? If that's
the case, how ‘bout that fight with Evander Holyfield that never took place (I
kid, I kid)...Bold move by the Raiders in acquiring Carson Palmer
but geez, they paid a steep price; didn't they?...So if the Red Sox had beer in
the dugout, what was the next step? A keg on the third base coaching box?...I
asked the great Jimmy Johnson- my all-time favorite Hurricane coach and boxing
fan on Twitter @JimmyJohnson)- what was his favorite fight he attended. His
answer: “Hagler Hearns ringside.” Next time, I'm going to ask him if ever
considered settling for the tie at South Bend against
Notre Dame in 1988...
