We?ll be able to see Nonito Donaire Jr. on pay-per-view in the Bay Area after all for his March 21 fight in the Philippines. And I?ll be buying, despite all the arguments regarding pay-per-view discernment in my post of two days ago.
I got wind from Donaire himself, via a phone call from wife Rachel in Cebu, that promoter Top Rank had finally struck a deal that makes a pay-per-view package available in the United States for the card. It features Donaire defending his IBF and IBO flyweight belts against unbeaten Raul Martinez of San Antonio, with Mexico?s Ulises Solis defending his light-flyweight title in the sub main against Filopino-American Brian Viloria.
Donaire?s manager Cameron Dunkin, my source for the previous news that there was no American TV for this card, confirmed the change. ?Yes, Nonito?s fight will be shown on PPV in the USA,? Dunkin e-mailed.
With the card being conducted in late morning March 22 in Quezon City, which is evening Saturday in the U.S., it did seem probable Top Rank would find a way to provide pay-per-view Stateside. When Donaire, who lives in San Leandro, near Oakland, but is a native of the Philippines, seemed headed for a March showdown with Mexican star Fernando Montiel, the TV venue would have been Showtime. But when Montiel instead moved up to bantamweight, Showtime wasn?t interested in Donaire or anyone else on the card as a headliner. For several weeks it seemed we wouldn?t be able to see it at all. The pay-per-view is a fallback.
Clearly there are two kinds of pay-per-view.
What we?re used to perceiving as pay-per-view is the elite kind, like Manny Pacquiao vs. Ricky Hatton on May 2. Both fighters are huge draws and top10 performers in anyone?s pound-for-pound rankings. Donaire is inching up there in the pound-for-pound rankings, but he doesn?t have a large fan base outside the Philippines, not even in the Bay Area.
The emergence of a second tier of pay-per-view, with far lower expectations for buy totals, serves niche audiences. Perhaps the best U.S. niche for this card is in Hawaii, where several thousand Viloria fans will find it worth $30 or $40 or so to see their hero.
That?s pretty much where I fall as a Donaire follower. There aren?t all that many of us willing to shell out $30 or so to see the Filipino Flash fight some up-and-comer we?ve never seen before, but I?m there for this one. (Well, actually I won?t be home. I?m going to have to record it during my octet gig that night in Berkeley.)
I?ve bad-mouthed this new, lower tier of PPV in recent months, including Saturday?s $40 double-main event in which elite middleweight Kelly Pavlik and elite welterweight Miguel Cotto mowed down relatively unknown opponents at separate venues. I even bad-mouthed the Nov. 1 card that included Donaire against Moruti Mthalane).
But I?m starting to change my mind and get with the new program. We?re still accustomed to thinking a pay-per-view main event has to be a blockbuster of interest even to non-boxing fans. But those are becoming less numerous than the second kind.
I still advise boxing fans to be cautious about blowing their money on pay-per-view. But I?m definitely starting to see the upside of low-stakes PPV if it can become profitable.
