IBF flyweight (112 pounds) champion Nonito Donaire would love to put Bay Area boxing on the map. He?s positioned to do so like no one since, oh, Bobo Olson 55 years ago. But his Bay Area ties don?t seem to be part of his image. Not yet, anyway. The boxing world sees him as the No. 2 Filipino in the sport?s recent upswing in respect for the Philippines. No. 1, of course, is lightweight champion (135 pounds) Manny Pacquiao, the electrifying left-hander whose Dec. 6 date with Oscar De La Hoya may well set pay-per-view records. Manny is likely to continue to overshadow Donaire. Now there are those who think of Nonito, who held a telephone press conference with boxing writers Thursday (Oct. 23), as a Las Vegas fighter as he prepares for his first bout since hooking up with Top Rank, a Nov. 1 title defense against little-known South African menace Moruti Mthalane at the Mandalay Bay. But San Leandro is the base, training and otherwise for Nonito and for his beautiful new wife, Rachel, not to mention older brother Glenn Donaire, the former light-flyweight champion and still a contender. Nonito says he still likes to run in the shadows of the hills above Lake Chabot in the East Bay ?with my friend Andre Ward. When we were younger, we ran that hill a lot.? Nonito is only just now emerging from the shadow of Ward, the only American since 2000 to win an Olympic boxing gold medal. But Ward, though unbeaten in his middleweight/light-heavyweight classes, still has to be considered untested, and by Donaire standards, he is. Donaire, after all, conquered fearsome but obnoxious slugger Vic Darchinyan in 2007 to win the IBF title flyweight with one of the most beautiful knockouts of this decade, and he was outclassing Darchinyan before the knockout. Their rematch, presumably at Darchinyan?s new weight (115), could gain Pacquiao-De La Hoya import if it percolates a couple of years. Let?s make it our goal to host that bout in the Bay Area about this time in 2010. And if Nonito deals successfully with Mthalane — more about that next week ? let?s stump for his flyweight summit meeting with Jorge Arce to take place at, say, Oracle Arena in Oakland. And let the massive ? and vibrant ? Filipino-American community lead the charge toward a level of ticket sales not common in the Bay Area since the aforementioned middleweight Olson was a gate attraction. There?s such an overflow of Pacquiao enthusiasm that a lot of it may well become a Donaire groundswell if he starts mowing down the likes of Arce and the many others lining up in boxing?s second most exciting division these days. His manager is even more confident about Donaire?s prospects for dominating the flyweights than I am about the Bay Area?s potential for backing Nonito to mutual glory. Cameron Dunkin went so far as to compare Donaire to one of his former clients, the best flyweight I?ve ever seen. ?Nonito can be as good as Mark Johnson,? Dunkin said, referring to one of the few left-handers ever whose stature approached what Pacquiao has going now. Minus the fan base, unfortunately. Donaire may spend a lot of time with Pacquiao in Las Vegas and the Philippines, but he would love to see his Bay Area base stampede an arena in Oakland or San Jose. ?We can fill up that place,? he said. ?We can definitely make it fun if we fight out there.? ?We? indeed.
BOBBY PACQUAIO AT SHARK TANK: Perhaps the Donaire brothers will be on hand when Manny?s brother Bobby (29-14-3, 14 knockouts), heads the next Fight Night at the Tank lineup in San Jose, set for Nov. 20 and announced Friday Oct. 24. His opponent will be Sandro Marcos (presumably not related to Ferdinand and Imelda; he?s from Mazatlan, Mexico), who is 27-19-2, with 23 knockouts. So that?s 33 losses between the two main-event guys on that card. On the undercard, in separate bouts, are Daly City 154-pounder Karim Mayfield (6-0-1, 5 knockouts), and two returnees from the Sept. 10 card: Salinas welterweight (147) Eric Garcia (2-0-1) and extremely colorful San Franciscan, 168-pounder Jason Peterson (2-1).
