Nonito Donaire and the Top 5 Reasons He Is Not Too Small To Make It Big

Nonito Donaire is coming off of a dominant, highlight-reel worthy knock out of Fernando Montiel and appears poised to become a boxing star. The problem is that boxing has produced few true stars capable of earning large sums of income at the lower weight classes.

For all of the skill, history, and technical planning that goes into the sport the boxing viewers often watches to see goliaths combat against one another. If the average fan believes that he could potentially beat up the boxer he is watching a certain level of mystique is gone.

While this may not be fair to the fighters at the lower weight classes who train just as hard and often take part in more exciting fights than their larger counterparts it is a financial reality.

However, Nonito Donaire, through a combination of skill and timing, has the opportunity to be one of the rare little guys to make it big in boxing.

Not too long ago HBO was the premier showcase for boxing. There would be the occasional important fight on Showtime, but week after week the superior fights and the bigger events would take place on HBO.

The end result was that there were only so many shows available and too much boxing talent vying for those time slots. Subsequently HBO placed their focus on only the most popular weight classes and largely ignored anything below lightweight.

Times have changed and Showtime has begun putting together large shows, tournaments and often features top talent. The traditionally ignored super middleweights are in the middle of a revolutionary tournament on Showtime.

Manny Pacquiao, one of boxing’s absolute top draws and staple of HBO’s boxing lineup, is fighting his next fight on Showtime pay per view. In addition, EPIX has decided to start broadcasting boxing.

This creates more television time available for fighters and forces the networks to look at talent in weight classes they might normally ignore in order to compete with one another.

Boxing fans love knockouts. Very few boxers below lightweight have that special one punch knock out power but Donaire does. Nonito Donaire has had two marquee fights that received major attention by the boxing media.

The first was against a supposed iron chin monster in Vic Darchinyan. The second was against Fernando Montiel. Both of these fights ended before the halfway point and with one punch.  

As Donaire continues to mature and add weight his knockout ratio has continued to improve. These knockouts create a more satisfying ending to the fights and offer promoters a ten second clip explaining exactly why a fighter is exciting.

Manny Pacquiao is currently amongst the most talented and famous fighters in the world. He is also a Filipino who came up from the smaller weight classes. As Donaire continues to forge his own identity he can ride on the coat tails of Pacquiao.

Pacquiao has impressed Filipino boxing on the minds of American fight fans. As anyone who has watched either boxer can attest, Donaire is a different style fighter than Pacquiao, but that does not mean his promoters should refrain from convincing people to tune in for the opportunity to see “the next Manny Pacquiao”.

Regardless of why fans tune into see Nonito Donaire in the first place, they will probably be given reasons to tune in again.

Also, to the point made earlier regarding fans not willing to watch guys they believe they could beat in a fight, Pacquiao's successful ventures into the larger weight classes create a sense of "the little big men". Smaller fighters with the speed, talent, and power to decimate their larger foes.

With a victory over Montiel, Donaire has beyond being considered a prospect and writers and fans are beginning to speculate just how great he can become. As previously mentioned, he has two marquee wins to his resume in fights where he appeared almost constantly in control.

Even more impressive is the versatility he has shown. Donaire started the fights against both Montiel and Darchinyan  by pressing the action and showing the ability to lead but the knock outs came via counter hooks. 

Donaire’s ability to fight numerous styles all while being entertaining and hard hitting will allow him to appeal to wide range of fans.

Donaire has officially announced his arrival amongst boxing’s best showing that the hype was real and the Darchinyan win was not a fluke. However, a talented fighter alone is not enough to attract fans. Very few people will pay to see shadow boxing.

The greatest boxing events have been because there were two recognizable fighters facing one another. Showtime is currently in the middle of a bantamweight tournament which will  create a tested, well known competitor for Donaire as well as having given the runner ups some strong television time.

The bantamweights are offering exciting fights from exciting fighters and Showtime and HBO are properly promoting these fighters. Due to Donaire’s youth and height it is entirely possible that he will be able to successfully move up to featherweight which is home to many budding talents including Juan Manuel Lopez, Chris John, and Yuriorkis Gamboa.

Subsequently there is a long list of current and future opponents for Donaire to face.

In the end fans like to see skill and accomplishment rewarded. There is a certain amount of pride that a person takes in seeing the things they enjoy (be it an athlete, a musician, or an actor) receive the accolades they deserve.

Regardless of whether or not Nonito Donaire is able to cross over and appeal to fans outside of hardcore boxing circles boxing does have a talent who creates must see television. Hopefully someone will be watching, given the five preceding reasons, most likely somebody will.