Newly crowned bantamweight champion and Filipino-American Nonito Donaire could soon inherit the throne as America?s iconic boxing figure following his spectacular knockout victory over tough and durable Fernando Montiel of Mexico.
With the demise and fallout of Mike Tyson a decade back and the recent retirement of Oscar de la Hoya, American fans have been searching for the one boxer they can call their own and represent the quintessential American Dream.
Floyd Mayweather Jr is too brash for comfort and outrageously megalomaniac for them to embrace.
Beyond him, no American boxer, at any weight class, comes close to becoming a boxing icon in the mold of de la Hoya, Tyson, Sugar Ray Leonard and, before them, Muhammad Ali.
Pound for pound king Manny Pacquiao is a Filipino and may not be the crossover star the Americans will embrace as their own, for obvious reasons.
Comes Donaire, an immigrant of Filipino descent.
Donaire could live up to the Great American Dream. Like de la Hoya, he does not have American blood in him but speaks, lives and breathes American. He has the looks, the intelligence and the glib of tongue that could generate tons of quotable quotes ? essential in these times of cyberspace and citizen journalism.
How about this for starter?
?(Boxing) superstar? I don?t know. That?s up for the people to decide. But I honestly believe I do belong to that the pound for pound (list) now. I honestly believe I am the best bantamweight right now.?
Spoken spontaneously and fielded by him during the press conference immediately after he all but knocked out Montiel with a devastating left hook to the temple in the second round.
Confident but not a cocky statement at all.
He also embraced playing second fiddle to Pacquiao while acknowledging the doors his former fellow General Santos City resident opened to other Filipino boxers, including him.
Donaire is no longer in the cusp of boxing superstardom although he hasn?t arrived fully yet.
But you can have a strong argument that one of his feet is already across the door.
At 28, he maybe approaching his peak already but Donaire said fans should embrace for more of him to come.
Donaire is undoubtedly segueing from where Manny has taken off.
A few fights more and a couple of boxing titles at different weight classes, and Donaire will become the next best thing in boxing ? after Manny Pacquiao.
No, he won?t be the next Pacquiao. He will soon become the Donaire of boxing.
And as promised, this will be the start of my Donaire column as he embarks to his own journey and odyssey.(see also: http://asiancorrespondent.com/43366/breaking-down-donaire-and-montiel/)
