Why Nonito Donaire does not need to fight in the undercard of Manny Pacquiao
After Nonito Donaire won his fifth world title with a victory over rugged South African Simpiwe Vetyeka to capture the WBA super featherweight title, Top Rank promoter Bob Arum announced the possibility of Donaire fighting alongside Manny Pacquiao in his November 22 card at the plush Cotai Arena of the Venetian Resort Hotel and Casino in Macau.
However, Pacquiao’s adviser, Canadian Michael Koncz immediately shot down the proposal, claiming it wouldn’t be advantageous business-wise for Pacquiao whose MP Promotions has a co-promotional contract with Top Rank for all his fights.
In an interview with Yahoo Philippines in Macau, Koncz posed the question “How is he (Donaire) going to sell one more ticket that Manny can’t sell?”
When we reminded Koncz that the sell-out crowd at the Cotai Arena when Donaire beat Vetyeka kept chanting “Nonito! Nonito!” which clearly demonstrated that Donaire had his own fans.
Koncz immediately sought to soften his comments by stating, “I’m not saying that he doesn’t have fans. I’m not talking bad about him. But Manny will sell the entire Philippine audience.”
He went on, “no matter who you put on the card, they are not going to put in anything substantial as to the Philippine audience. Manny will do all that.”
Then, the business considerations quickly emerged when Koncz said “why will we spend $1 million in profits on a fight that's not going to generate any actual additional income and if it does, it will be very little. It makes no business sense.”
Koncz emphasized that MP Promotions is a co-promoter with Top Rank so we share in the expenses and we share in the profits.
Koncz then issue what amounted to a challenge to the Top Rank promoter extraordinaire . “Unless Bob Arum can tell me how it is financially advantageous to us, Donaire won’t be on the Pacquiao card in Macau.”
In fact, under the contract between MP Promotions and Top Rank, no Filipino boxer can fight on a Top Rank card unless the fighter goes through MP Promotions which invariably means a cut from the fighter’s purse accruing to the coffers of MP Promotions.
Koncz has told Arum he wants this provision strictly enforced after ALA Promotions fighters such as Milan Melindo who fought for the WBO/WBA flyweight belts against Mexico’s Juan Francisco Estrada was the last.
Even though Top Rank matchmakers have been impressed with fighters like Genesis Servania and Milan Melindo among others they won’t see action on Top Rank card because ALA Promotions will never agree to their fighters appearing under the MP Promotions banner, which is only proper.
After all, ALA Promotions has emerged as probably the premier and classiest outfit not just in the Philippines but in Asia and its rapid expansion backed up by the giant broadcast network ABS-CBN will do it no good in effectively playing second fiddle to MP Promotions whose fight cards are nowhere near the quality of the “Pinoy Pride” series of ALA and ABS-CBN whose television ratings have been consistently remarkable.
When Yahoo Philippines inquired how come Donaire was not subject to the restrictions imposed on Filipino fighters under the MP Promotions-Top Rank agreement Koncz said “he (Nonito) was with Top Rank long before we were,” obviously meaning MP Promotions.
When we asked Donaire about this, he said “when we signed with Top Rank at the beginning, they promised us an undercard fight with Pacquiao.”
Nonito clarified that “the only reason I pushed for that is because it’s a treat for all the Filipinos.”
In the face of Koncz’ stance on a Donaire fight on the Pacquiao card, Arum made a turnaround and said that based on his drawing power in Macau and the television ratings in the Philippines where the Donaire-Vetyeka fight was telecast the following morning, Donaire can stand on his own.
Arum told the widely-read boxing site, boxingscene.com that Donaire may soon be on HBO Sports on prime time.
Noting that the Donaire-Vetyeka fight was aired on a tape-delayed basis on HBO 2 in the afternoon of the following day, Arum said “one thing that was good is that although HBO played in the afternoon on a delayed basis, it did an incredible audience of 435,000 viewers.”
In view of Donaire’s success in the latest telecast, Arum revealed that in meeting with HBO and they want Nonito to be back on the network in prime time in the fall in October or November.
The astute promoter added that “the original plan was to have Donaire fight in Macau or Singapore but now we would shift it back to the United States.”
We have suggested that in the face of the intransigence of Koncz, that Donaire headlines a Top Rank card in the US and have WBO light flyweight champion Donnie “Ahas” Nietes as a co-main event which will surely attract fans because of two Filipino world champions.
It would fit nicely into the plans of ALA Promotions president Michael Aldeguer to have Nietes fight in the US following his spectacular TKO victory over WBO Interim champion and mandatory challenger Moises Fuentes.
Donaire responded enthusiastically to the suggestion, saying “it’s a great idea.”
He said “ Nietes is a tremendous fighter and the only reason I push for it (a fight on a Pacquiao card) was for the sake of the Filipino fans. To have Nietes would be great. He is a tremendous fighter a treat for Filipinos fans and fights like that make it an incredible card for Filipinos to watch and support.”
When we conveyed Donaire’s positive response to having Nietes fight on the same card as him, ALA Promotions president Michael Aldeguer told Yahoo Philippines “That’s good. We are looking at November and are working on it.”
He said they were communicating with the former Home Depot Center now the StubHub Center and “that’s what we are looking out for” as far as Nietes is concerned.
Aldeguer said “this is a good start.”
