NONITO DONAIRE JR. IS A BOXING STAR whose career is wanting of a shining label.
He’s not unlike a celebrated artist still waiting to show a worthy masterpiece.
The great Flash Elorde loved to call this honor, which continues to elude Nonito, the “confirmation.”
“Winning the world title is nothing but a baptism,” Da Flash, deep into retirement, told this reporter at his place in Sucat, Para?aque in 1984.
Elorde said a winner must be able to confirm his championship in succeeding fights.
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Yes, winning is not all.
But Nonito, for the record, hasn’t lost since he dumped Vic Darchinyan with a shotgun left to the jaw in 2007.
That masterpiece of a win, which won for him the IBF flyweight crown, was also voted KO of the Year.
That also turned Nonito into an overnight celebrity.
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Problem is, he’s a sensation whose name has remained unwritten in the stars.
They also liken him to a hero who can’t give a permanent address.
Not a single loss since that one-punch demolition of Darchinyan.
Nonito was also scheduled to fight the respected Gerson Guerrero for the WBA interim super flyweight championship at the Las Vegas Hilton on Sunday.
But that bout—although one that would not give Donaire enough star points—was changed at the last minute after Guerrero was found with a detached retina.
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Manuel Vargas, whoever he may be, has been pushed in as a last-minute replacement.
This should shift more attention Sunday to the unbeaten Ciso Morales of Cebu (14-0) who meets scrappy WBO bantamweight champion Fernando Montiel of Mexico.
“What Nonito needs is something big as a rematch with Darchinyan,” said newspaper stand owner Tom Diaz of Mandaluyong City yesterday.
Darchinyan has maintained the stoppage he suffered versus Nonito was a big fluke. But Donaire, aware of the lingering Darchinyan dare to a rematch, has started shooting for the stars ahead of Sunday’s fight.
“I dream of a fight with Juan Manuel Lopez,” Donaire told an interviewer in Las Vegas the other day.
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JuanMa, the big, power-punching Puerto Rican who dealt Gerry Pe?alosa his first knockout loss in Bayomon last year, has since captured the world featherweight crown.
There were also talk of a possible clash with the flamboyant over-the-hill Julio Arce for Nonito.
But Donaire, obviously desperate over the long-overdue full stardom, is willing to cut corners.
He definitely knows that, in order for him to score big in the United States like the great Manny Pacquiao, he must excel in the upper weights.
Of course, to get there soon, Donaire can’t content himself in having a perfect loving wife alone.
He may have to look for somebody competent enough to guide him on what steps to take in his career.
