Donnie & Donaire’s D-Day
For a 30th edition, Pinoy Pride made another trip to Manila, this time going back to the historical Araneta Coliseum for “D-Day,” featuring WBO light flyweight world champion Donnie “Ahas” Neites and former four-division world champion Nonito “Filipino Flash” Donaire. I’ve always been puzzled with Manila boxing fans due to their lack of interest in watching Pinoy boxing live unless the main event featured someone named Manny Pacquiao. When we asked ALA Promotions big boss Michael Aldeguer about it, he gamely said that winning the following of Manila fans is a work in progress, but they’re being patient and are also confident that they’ll draw the big crowds pretty soon.
Fast forward to last Saturday; for the first time for a Manila boxing event, I was impressed with the turnout of boxing fans who trooped to the Big Dome to watch Pinoy Pride 30. It was easily the biggest crowd that had watched a Pinoy Pride event in Manila by far and the biggest crowd since the Pacman fought Oscar Larios also at the Araneta Coliseum. While the place wasn’t filled up like an Ateneo-La Salle basketball or volleyball game, it was still relatively impressive when compared to previous boxing events which led me to believe that it was better going to Cebu, Davao or Bacolod. The patron, ringside and lower box sections were fully-booked, and the general admission section was also filled. The only “empty” areas were the box and upper box sections. What drew this crowd? Was it Donaire’s popularity? Was it Donnie’s growing level of awareness as the longest reigning Filipino world champion in boxing? Did it come from all the TV and radio efforts of ABS-CBN?
I guess you can simply say, “all of the above.” Nobody can deny that Donaire is the second most popular Pinoy boxer next to Pacquiao. This is why ABS-CBN and ALA Promotions pushed to have Top Rank make the Filipino Flash available for a Manila event. The biggest factor was the boxing fan’s curiosity as to whether or not Donaire still had it. Moreover, it isn’t everyday that one gets to see Donaire fight in Manila. While Donaire may have obliterated his Brazilian opponent, let’s make it clear that this might not have been an excellent gauge to assess if he’s ready for a shot at world title in the 122-pound division. A good confidence builder? Yes. A good workout? Yes. A good venue to check his planned switch from being a one punch KO boxer to a combo boxer? No. We must all remember that Donaire himself said that he can’t rely solely on his power to get things done. He’s now working on being a complete boxer who can throw punches in bunches and wear out opponents this way. But a win is a win and it’s back to the gym on working on his goals. The crowd cheered for Donaire and gave a standing ovation after his brief two-round job. At this point, I feared for a couple of things. Would fans now leave the venue and skip Donnie’s fight? Will they cheer for Donnie just as loudly as they did for Nonito?
This is where I now take my hats off to the Manila boxing fans. (Or were they all Bisaya? I did hear a lot of Bisaya and Ilonggo bleacher talk.) The fans stayed behind to watch the main event featuring Donnie against Gilberto Parra. The fans applauded, cheered and stood up for Donnie who methodically broke down Parra before knocking him down in the eighth round and forcing the ring physician to recommend a stop to the fight at the end of the ninth round due to a deep cut over Parra’s left eye. They cheered for every big left hook or right straight that Nietes landed and oohed at Donnie’s stiff left jabs when these landed perfectly on Parra’s face. They followed every body blow that Donnie landed via left and right hooks and jeered when Parra would clinch, hug Donnie or turn away from an exchange. They also reacted when Donnie would miss what could’ve been huge punches by a split second whenever Parra would turn away at the right time. But as the saying goes, “You can run, but you can’t hide.” Donnie’s right hand sent Parra to the canvass once and had him on spaghetti legs a couple of more times. And this was set up by his left jab and blows to the body which wore down Parra. To his credit, Parra did manage to land blows of his own, but he was clearly outclassed by Donnie.
At the end of the day, ALA Promotions and ABS-CBN Sports were obviously happy with the turnout of events. It was a perfect model of marketing’s 4 Ps where the products Donnie and Donaire stood out and delivered. The promotions side was near-perfect courtesy of ABS-CBN’s reach: TV show and news guest appearances, radio interviews, TV ads/plugs; they’ve packaged Donnie into what he is today. With Araneta Coliseum as the place aside from the TV telecast here and abroad, Manila proved that this is where the mass market is found (with no disrespect to Cebu and the probinsya). The Price was a mere formality to overcome. After all, didn’t the fans show-up?
That was how Donnie and Donaire dominated their D-Day.
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