What makes Nonito Donaire?s fight Saturday so important to him is that it?s on Showtime. The Filipino Flash doesn?t get enough exposure in America.
His past four bouts have all been fairly small-scale pay-per-view events based on his marketability in the Philippines, but he has received little Showtime-caliber exposure since his 2007 upset of Vic Darchinyan, mostly because Darchinyan and other desirable opponents have been ducking the multi-talented Bay Area fighter. This bout, in Puerto Rico, is the No. 2 bout on the bill, under the Juan Manuel Lopez-Bernabe Concepcion main event.
Donaire (23-1, 15 knockouts), who is ranked No. 4 in The Ring?s worldwide pound-for-pound rankings, is a heavy favorite to defend his not-very-impressive-sounding WBA interim super-flyweight title against a merely semi-worthy challenger, Hernan ?Tyson? Marquez (27-1, 20 knockouts). The Mexican would be a lot more attractive opponent for Donaire had he not suffered the loss in his last fight, which Richie Mepranum won by a lopsided decision.
Donaire really has to top that by stopping the guy, ideally in short order. ?I?ve got the reach, speed and power,? Donaire said during training, assessing his advantages over his comparatively endomorphic opponent, ?but you never know in boxing. So, that?s why we?re taking precautions.?
? ?We? includes trainer Robert Garcia, who ultimately had to choose between being in Donaire?s corner Saturday over guiding Brian Viloria a few hours earlier in the Philippines. Donaire probably doesn?t need much guidance, though.
?The jab?s going to be the main thing,? Donaire said. ?And my speed. With my jab, it?s to set up everything. I?ll be like an archer ? pulling my arrows down on him. I?ll plant him first to become confident my big attack will land.?
Rest assured Donaire won?t lose, even though getting down to 114.5 pounds was the worst making-weight challenge of his career, and in fact he may well bypass bantamweight and go up to 122 after this bout.
Even if Marquez is a heavy hitter for a super flyweight, he won?t faze a man who has been taking shots from 145-pounders during training.
?Still, it?s always good to be safe,? Donaire said. ?But I want to make it entertaining for the people as well.?
If only he could reach more of them, especially in the Bay Area, where the daily newspapers don?t really track him the way they track Andre Ward and Robert Guerrero. My old employer, the San Jose Mercury News, lists the Showtime card in its sports TV listings with only Lopez-Concepcion billed.
By the way, given the divergent outcomes of their bouts with Steven Luevano, and the fact that I though Concepcion did not deserve the decision when he outpointed Puerto Rican left-hander Mario Santiago last February, I expect JuanMa to prevail easily, landing at least 400 punches.
That?s what Donaire is up against Saturday. He has to be more impressive against Marquez than JuanMa is against Concepcion. And even then, few in the Bay Area will notice until he is fighting JuanMa himself, unless Donaire can increase his profile here.
