By Chris Robinson
Over the weekend I caught up with Showtime analyst Al Bernstein, a man you can always count on for an insightful interview. Bernstein and I talked in-depth about the November 12th Manny Pacquiao-Juan Manuel Marquez trilogy set to take place in Las Vegas and many of its surrounding subplots, such as Pacquiao's future heading into 2012 and what Floyd Mayweather must be thinking from the sidelines.
One of the key reasons that the third go-round between Pacquiao and Marquez is taking place is that Golden Boy Promotions, who previously promoted Marquez and had the right to match the offer Top Rank presented with Pacquiao, chose to step aside to make the fight a reality. Top Rank and Golden Boy have been in the middle of a feud with one another for various reasons yet a recent meeting between Richard Schaefer and Bob Arum has seemed to pave the way towards them working with one another.
For Bernstein, this is nothing but good news.
"I think there is a thawing of the cold war between the two companies," he said. "And that's good because the reason it is good is because they all have a lot of fighters who are generally around the same weight classes. I think that means that these fighters would have a chance to fight each other."
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One of the parties caught up in the Top Rank-Golden Boy rift is WBC and WBO bantamweight champion Nonito Donaire, who signed a lucrative deal with Golden Boy after feeling his contract with Top Rank was invalid. Bob Arum took the matter to court and it was ruled that Top Rank's contract was still binding, stopping Golden Boy from making any sort of moves with the charismatic Fil-Am fighter.
With both promotional powers looking to make nice, does this mean we could be seeing Donaire inside of the ring in the foreseeable future?
"Yeah, that's possible and I actually think Donaire is headed back to Top Rank to finish out his contract," Bernstein continued. "I don't think there is much doubt about that. I just think that's how it is going to end up. From the people I have talked to, have indicated as much. It was just a miscalculation on the part of whoever talked Nonito Donaire into doing that. That was an ill-advised move from Nonito's standpoint. It doesn't mean he had to stay with Bob Arum but it's crazy to leave at a time when someone has an enforceable contract on you and they didn't breach the contract."
Prior to Donaire's last fight, a breathtaking 2nd round TKO over Fernando Montiel at the Mandalay Bay, Bernstein sang great praise about the 28-year old fighter and even mused on the possibility of him moving up in weight. Four months, one sizzling knockout, and a contractual dispute later, and Bernstein is still just as high on Donaire.
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"I think Nonito Donaire is second only to Floyd Mayweather in terms of pure skills. And he has something else that Mayweather doesn't have. At his weight class, he is a huge puncher. A huge puncher. I think he's going to move up to 122 and be a monster and I even think at 126 he'll be a great fighter. He may have to box a little more at 126 but he's more than capable of doing that. He will be a little more of a boxer-puncher but I think he'll carry enough power up to that weight class and do really well," said Bernstein.
Donaire was initially scheduled to have fought this weekend and now everyone is just hoping his situation can get sorted out so we can at least see him by the end of the year. Bernstein can't stress enough how important it is for one of the sport's shining stars to be seen.
"It would be a shame for him to not be seen by boxing fans. Again, he's in the prime of his career and this is the time where he should be fighting more often."
Chris Robinson is based out of Las Vegas, Nevada. An archive of his work can be found here , and he can be reached at Trimond@aol.com