Is the Filipino Flash ready to fill the Pacman’s shoes?

July 12th, 2010

This past weekend, Nonito Donaire (24-1 16KOs) put on another masterful performance against Hernan “Tyson” Marquez (27-2 20KOs) to retain the WBA interim super flyweight title. Donaire surprised many as he began fighting out of the southpaw stance in an attempt to befuddle Marquez. His switch hitting style proved effective and it was just one aspect of his arsenal as he landed seemingly at will on his lesser opponent. The Fil-Am boxer would control the tempo throughout the fight before deciding to call it a night in the 8th round with a vicious left hook, putting a halt to the bout.

Since Donaire burst onto the boxing scene with his knockout upset over the once invincible Vic Darchinyan, he has won six straight with only one fight going the distance. As Pacquiao soon prepares to venture on a path that will no longer involve prize fighting, Filipinos including myself are desperately searching for the next iconic figure that will lift us onto his shoulders. The reputation as being the Philippine’s next boxing hero has been given to dozens of fighters yet none have proven themselves remotely capable of upholding that status. Rey Bautista, AJ Banal, Ciso Morales, Marvin Sonsona, Bernabe Concepcion and Brian Viloria were all at one time touted as the next pacific typhoon to devastate the boxing world, but the weight of a nation proved too heavy for them to handle. In their defence, fighters like Pacquiao don’t come around often. They are a special breed found once every generation. Before Manny there was Julio Cesar Chavez and Tito Trinidad, and before them there was Roberto Duran. On this little island, Manny Pacquiao is more than a boxing star. He is a super hero and by using his fists he has the uncanny ability to unite people together and momentarily rid crime from his poverty stricken country.

On Saturday, Nonito looked better than ever awing the crowd with his hand speed and accuracy. Nicknamed the “Filipino Flash” and currently rated as the world’s 4th best fighter according to Ring Magazine, it would seem appropriate that he’s currently held in high regards being dubbed as the next Pacman. But what has he done lately to herald that distinction? After defeating Darchinyan, Donaire has fought middle class opposition in Luis Maldonado, Moruti Mthalane, Raul Martinez, Rafael Concepcion, Manuel Vargas and Hernan Marquez. Other than Concepcion who proved a worthy adversary, none were able to challenge the Flash, nor were they meant to. Although his biggest rivals Fernando Montiel and Vic Darchinyan aren’t mentioned in the Rings rankings, they have battled much higher calibre combatants. In his last outing, Montiel knocked out Bantamweight stud Hozumi Hasegawa while Darchinyan bounced back from defeat by stopping the likes of Jorge Arce, Christian Mijares and Dmitry Kirrilov. It’s not Donaire’s fault that his rivals are beating the top fighters and he isn’t. He has expressed numerous times his desire to compete with the likes of Montiel, Arce and Darchinyan, but promotional setbacks have prevented any of those matches from taking place. Donaire is currently in the prime of his career and has the drive and potential to be one of the best, no doubt about it, but he’s still got a ways to go if anyone thinks he’s ready to fill Pacquiao’s size 8 1/2 Nikes. A second victory over Darchinyan and a win over Montiel at Bantamweight would definitely help his cause. He has mentioned before that he would love to challenge the likes of Juan Ma Lopez and eventually move all the way up to welterweight, but in order to talk the talk, he must walk the walk. I wouldn’t be shocked to one day witness Donaire receive the same accolades Pacquiao gets, but for that to become a reality he must step up his level of competition and prove that he can beat the best at whichever division he chooses to fight in.