World Bantamweight boxing champion Nonito Donaire Jr. got renewed approval?a fresh round of applause?following published reports on his offer to reconcile with his parents.
It was reported by philboxing.com, quoting an item from ABS-CBN online, that the champion was ready to mend his messed-up relations with his parents, mainly his estranged father, the first trainer who goaded him to the world flyweight crown in 2007.
That?s quite fine, but there?s a little problem.
One sportswriter, in defending Donaire against critics, maligned the champion?s mother, saying she was only after money when she brought out in the open the champion?s maltreatment of his father.
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It was another stab in the heart of the old Donaire couple who tried to keep their peace, if not for long.
Yesterday, reports came from California that Dodong Donaire, the champion?s father, was mulling over a libel suit against the newsman who made the un-Christian remarks against Mrs. Donaire. Meanwhile, the young Donaire continued to draw more admirers following his sensational stoppage of Mexico?s Fernando Montiel in Las Vegas.
In fact, a sports columnist who was granted Filipino naturalization by the late Ferdinand Marcos, accused other people and certain sectors in the media of allegedly trying to destabilize Nonito Jr.
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Returning from Las Vegas where he worked the championship fight, the columnist-broadcaster bore down on those who, he said, tried to push Nonito Jr. out of focus by rattling him with reports on the deepening family feud.
The accuser also tried to make it appear that the rift between the champion and his parents was pure fiction, and should?ve been kept under wraps while Nonito Jr. was in training.
The accuser could indeed mean well.
But there?s this more sensible call that Donaire should be in perfect peace with his conscience in order to enhance his chances at winning.
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?Nobody wanted Donaire to lose, of course, but it would also be un-Christian if we didn?t bring these misdeeds out in the open,? retorted Anthony Andales, a United States-based boxing correspondent who was among those who confirmed the family feud through interviews with the Donaire couple.
Actually, this reporter had tried to shrug off the shallow accusation by the columnist-broadcaster, going with the suggestion of one seasoned editor that ?it was all kiss-ass mumblings.?
However, I find it also my duty to set the record straight, as requested by concerned citizens who look up to their sports heroes as models of honest, healthy Christian living.
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?We can?t expect him to help, after all (name of newsman) is not Filipino,? said my friend Tom Diaz, tallish manager of a road-corner newspaper stand in the Mandaluyong City wet market area.
What Tall Tom fears is that this misguided commentator could succeed in selling his cancerous claims and mercenary values to innocent Filipino sports fans.
?He should be more responsible and live up to the reputation of his newspaper,? Diaz said.
Lawyer Mariano Quintos, keen follower of boxing and billiards, said he honestly thought the controversial commentator had been reformed.
?He was a Marcos boot-licker who was supposed to have been rehabilitated,? he said.
It?s just too bad he has remained a stigma of an evil regime, the wiry, hard-hitting lawyer concluded.
