Logic says that things are going to be a little awkward, at least for a while, for blossoming superstar Nonito Donaire. A few weeks back the Fil-Am fighter made headlines when it was announced that he had opted out of his promotional union with Top Rank by signing an exclusive deal with Golden Boy Promotions, a move that some backed and others couldn’t quite fathom.
Promoter Bob Arum took great offense to Donaire’s actions, fully believing that his contract with the 28-year old was still binding for various reasons. The 79-year old took the matter to court and earlier this week judge Daniel Weinstein saw in his favor, enjoining Golden Boy from promoting Donaire at this point.
Several people have chastised Donaire for creating this situation but not everyone is so critical. A few days ago I had a lengthy talk with former IBF junior welterweight champion Paulie Malignaggi and we closed our rap session by analyzing the situation.
Always one to wear his own emotions on his sleeve, Malignaggi, who himself recently ponied up with Golden Boy after a stint with Lou Dibella, seemed to sympathize with Donaire.
“I think every fighter has the right to do whatever they want for their career. I don’t understand what the backlash is. He’s coming off of a big win over Montiel. Nobody said he has to stay with Top Rank. He did the same thing when he beat Darchinyan. He left Gary Shaw and went to Top Rank. Nobody was complaining then. Why is everyone complaining now?,” Malignaggi remarked of Donaire’s initial interest to pursue life outside of Top Rank.
Malignaggi continued on, showing obvious admiration towards Donaire and a definite bit of disdain towards the way the three-division champion’s career was handled by Top Rank.
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“Is it because Pacquiao is with Top Rank so they feel Nonito [should be] with Top Rank?,” asked Paulie. “I honestly thought Top Rank didn’t do a very good job with Donaire. Besides getting him the Montiel fight I thought they totally underexposed him. He’s one of the most talented fighters of our generation and nobody was talking about him. It’s ridiculous. Especially when you have a Manny Pacquiao. They could have easily kept him busy on Pacquiao’s undercards.
“I mean you have the incredible Filipino population and they could have easily made Nonito a co-feature every time instead of putting him on these bullshit Latin Fury cards and making him a co-feature to Chavez Jr. and all that crap. I think they did a terrible job with Nonito Donaire. He’s an incredibly talented kid with a lot of charisma, can fight, can talk on the mic, is always smiling, is a good kid, and you underexpose him? You gotta be kidding me.”
Nope, this definitely isn’t a kidding matter, as all of Donaire’s momentum from his February 19th victory over Fernando Montiel has now stalled and we are now uncertain when we will see him in the ring again next.
Colorful and candid with his final comments, Malignaggi even hinted that perhaps Pacquiao was to blame for Donaire’s lack of attention but it’s not a topic he chose to delve into completely.
“I don’t really want to get into it but I also heard it’s Manny Pacquiao who doesn’t want him on his cards. And if that’s the case then it’s a shame in itself. If you say you are looking out for your people like you say you are then you look out for Nonito Donaire if you are Manny Pacquiao. But I don’t even want to get into that.”
