Now for the third side of the Nonito Donaire-Gary Shaw-Cameron Dunkin triangle. Manager Dunkin is not looking to restoke the fires that have been blazing this week after the IBF flyweight champion went on Filipino TV to put Mr. Shaw on public blast.
As of Thursday, all three sides?fighter, promoter, manager?seem to be cooling their heels and waiting for emotions to subside before discussing how this troubled boxing marriage will move forward. As boxing insiders know, these kinds of brouhahas flare up all the time within fight camps but they most often do not become public knowledge.
But what seems to be burning in the craw of Nonito Jr. and trainer-father Nonito Sr. is that they want to share in Filipino TV rights, something they feel should go at least partially to them.
?Top Rank used to give a big chunk of the Filipino TV money to Manny Pacquiao and, for Manny?s last two bouts, he got all of the Filipino rights fee. The Donaires know this and they don?t see why they should not get a piece of that pie,? a Filpino media source told me.
Dunkin refused to speak on the record to me when I rang him up at his Las Vegas home Thursday.
?I am not responding to the media on this,? Dunkin said.
But I did chat with another party who is fully familiar with the contretemps.
?Gary has flared up like this before with Dunkin,? this source said. ?Sometimes, Gary feels Cameron?s first allegiance is to Top Rank even though the manager brought the Donaire Brothers and hot prospect James Kirkland to Gary Shaw?s company.
?What set off this firestorm is the $50,000 Solar Sports, the Filpino TV network, paid to Gary for Nonito?s fight against Luis Maldonado. The Donaires called Dunkin and told him Gary had them come from Cebu to Manila to meet with the Solar people. Cameron was upset because was never told by the promoter up front about the situation.?
Finally, the source said that an airplane ticket snafu and confusion about whether he had a hotel room at Foxwoods is why Dunkin decided not to attend Donaire?s successful title defense against Maldonado.
?Cameron called father and son and told them he wasn?t coming,? this source said. ?They were fine with that. Cameron didn?t really blame anyone but the airline had trouble locating his ticket record and, when they did, he didn?t have enough time to make it through airport security. So he decided not to make the trip.?
Will this bad blood fester?
?I don?t think so,? the source said. ?Donaire?s career is going up like a rocket ship and there is plenty of money for all concerned. What they need is a private sitdown because, going forward, they need each other. This was just a family fight that will blow over in time.”
