Until Nonito Donaire proves he can handle men bigger than he is, he will continue to live under the shadow of his more illustrious compatriot and fellow General Santos City resident Manny Pacquiao.
On Sunday, he is challenging Mexico?s Fernando Montiel for the WBC and WBO versions of the bantamweight crown.
On the strength and reputation of the two protagonists, their fight on Sunday (Philippine time) should be able to stand alone by itself ? it being one of the marquee match-ups for 2011. In fact, this is one of the truly big fights for the year.
But because both happen to represent two of the most prolific producers of world champions in recent years, their fight is often mentioned as an extension of the rivalry between Pacquiao and all the Mexican fighters he had conquered and vanquished.
No wonder Montiel says he is taking it personal and will exact revenge for Mexico from Donaire as if it will erase the stigma of those humiliating losses his countrymen suffered in the hands of Pacquiao.
For his part Doniare knows the path to his own greatness will be measured against what Pacquiao had already accomplished.
He knows he will never be able to match, much more break, the record eight weight division titles Manny won en route to being named as the best pound for pound fighter today. Maybe, someday, the best ever.
But winning titles up to the 135 pound class will establish him as the best ? after Pacquiao. Second best may not be appealing to the ear but can Donaire be faulted because there is a Pacquiao that preceded his own ascent to boxing greatness?
But if Donaire captures the bantamweight crown on Sunday and later the super bantamweight, featherweight and super featherweight titles and lightweight titles, these feats will separate him from Pacquiao. No fighter has ever won titles in seven consecutive divisions starting flyweight to lightweight class.
Pacquiao skipped campaigning for titles in the super flyweight and bantamweight classes after losing his flyweight crown at the scales to Medgoen Singsurat. He won the super bantamweight title when he knocked out Lehlo Ledwaba in 2001. Since then, he has taken the world by storm.
The 28-year old Donaire, like Pacquiao when he fought Marco Barrera in 2003, is in the cusp of greatness. He is now considered as among the top ten fighters in many boxing writers? list. He also owns the most lethal pair of hands and is famous for his iconic and career defining one punch knockout of Armenian bully Vic Darchinyan.
Disposing the tough 31-ear old Montiel in a convincing fashion will make Donaire only the second Filipino fighter to capture boxing crowns in three different weight classes. The other guy of course goes by the moniker Pacman.
Donaire?s true tests will however come when he campaigns for titles in the featherweight and up classes. There, he will meet bigger and stronger guys than he has been fighting as a blown up flyweight.
At these classes, he will find that his height and length will no longer be a big factor. It will be his own ability to keep up with the big punchers in those divisions. How I wish he would someday fight Juan Manuel Lopez.
By then Manny would have already retired. And he will no longer be fighting under the shadow of the greatest Filipino boxer ever.
