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By Jake Donovan - “The next Manny Pacquiao.”
Just as Kobe Bryant was marketed as “the next Michael Jordan” before proving to be great enough to become the first Kobe Bryant, “the next Manny Pacquiao” is the label you can expect to be applied to any Filipino fighter threatening to become a viable commodity.
In a more creative society, current flyweight titlist Nonito Donaire is an easy sell on his own.
There arguably isn’t a better flyweight on the planet; he also currently ranks among the sport’s very best pound for pound fighters.
At a hair under 5’7” and with a 68” wingspan, rare is the opponent over which he doesn’t enjoy a considerable height and reach advantage.
More than 15,000 fans filed into the Arenata Coliseum in Quezon City for his last fight, a fourth round knockout of Raul Martinez, confirming his status as a rising star. The fight was along the lines of most of his other 22 career bouts to date, which is to say that it was entertaining and one-sided in Donaire’s favor.
Yet for all of the accolades, attached with almost any question directed at the 26-year old Filipino is a reference to the island’s greatest attraction – Manny Pacquiao.
The worst part isn’t that Donaire already knows it, but that he’s already learned to live with it.
“Everybody will be tied to Pacquiao, he is a great champion and for me it is an honor to be a part of that,” acknowledged Donaire (21-1, 14KO), who seems to spend more time talking about life under Pacquiao’s shadow than the next challenge presently awaiting him. [details]
Just as Kobe Bryant was marketed as “the next Michael Jordan” before proving to be great enough to become the first Kobe Bryant, “the next Manny Pacquiao” is the label you can expect to be applied to any Filipino fighter threatening to become a viable commodity.
In a more creative society, current flyweight titlist Nonito Donaire is an easy sell on his own.
There arguably isn’t a better flyweight on the planet; he also currently ranks among the sport’s very best pound for pound fighters.
At a hair under 5’7” and with a 68” wingspan, rare is the opponent over which he doesn’t enjoy a considerable height and reach advantage.
More than 15,000 fans filed into the Arenata Coliseum in Quezon City for his last fight, a fourth round knockout of Raul Martinez, confirming his status as a rising star. The fight was along the lines of most of his other 22 career bouts to date, which is to say that it was entertaining and one-sided in Donaire’s favor.
Yet for all of the accolades, attached with almost any question directed at the 26-year old Filipino is a reference to the island’s greatest attraction – Manny Pacquiao.
The worst part isn’t that Donaire already knows it, but that he’s already learned to live with it.
“Everybody will be tied to Pacquiao, he is a great champion and for me it is an honor to be a part of that,” acknowledged Donaire (21-1, 14KO), who seems to spend more time talking about life under Pacquiao’s shadow than the next challenge presently awaiting him. [details]
fighter than Victor Ortiz.....Donaire thinks and adjust within fights 
.......unlike ortiz who has a "devil may care style"
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