What with international superstars Manny Pacquaio and Floyd Mayweather both being close to age 35 than to 30, boxing needs one or more younger fighters to grab the flag and develop into the pay per view TV magnets that the older fighters are.
Super middleweight Andre Ward looks like a likely candidate. The fighter who calls himself "Son Of God" has a sizable following but his drawing power at the live gate has really only been shown in his home base of Oakland.
Meanwhile, another Bay Area based fighter named Nonito Donaire has the in and out of the ring tools to become a gate and PPV attraction.
The "power behind the throne" in Fil Am Donaire's camp is his wife, Rachel, and she plays an important role for her husband other than being a devoted spouse.
I sat down with the oft-criticized Mrs. Donaire on Tuesday to discuss what she does and doesn't do regarding the career of her "Filipino Flash" husband.
"I am not the manager," Rachel said. "I never said I was or tried to be that. Nonito's capable manager is Cameron Dunkin and all the boxing decisions and discussion go between Nonito and Cameron. They speak to our promoter, Top Rank, on boxing issues."
Rachel, who revealed that the couple is buying a house in the Bay Area and plans to start a family next year, said that she tries to concentrate on marketing/public relation aspects of Nonito's burgeoning career.
The selling of Nonito includes advertising photo shoots which usually include bevies of sexy female models but Mrs. D said that hardly fazes her.
"Nonito takes photos and gets his photos taken so he's on both ends of the camera," she said. "I'm not threatened by or jealous of other women. If my huisband was in Playboy, like Manny Pacquiao is right now, I wouldn't be threatened either. It's just a part of the overall marketing scheme."
When the Donaires tried to dump Bob Arum's company to go with rival Golden Boy, feelings were ruffled on both sides. Arum made a reference to Rachel dressing in a slutty manner but now that legal action caused them to return to TR, Rachel said it's all in the rear view mirror. To be more precise, Arum said "like a hooker."
"I kind of just shrugged that off because I got dragged into it," Rachel said. "That was all between Top Rank and Nonito's legal team but I think Bob took it personally and I can understand that in a way."
With Dunkin as manager and Robert Garcia as ther trainer, Rachel focuses on social network chores such as her husband's Facebook and Twitter accounts.
"People may not know this but that is usually Nonito personally on his pages, not someone else. We talk about what others are discussing and he will tell me things he wants to send out on Facebook and Twitter. The words are Nonito's, not mine."
What happens with the unavoidable "hater" type comments that come across in social networking, I asked.
"Nonito will normally give someone a second chance but if they are hateful or making racial or other inappropriate things, they get banned. Nonito says he doesn't want his world, which those pages are part of, to be negative like that. Constructive criticism is accepted but not purely negative, hateful remarks."
As the days and fights go by, Rachel said she realizes she's learning more and more about all sides of professional boxing. A former model, Rachel also got a taste of what really being a manager can be like when Nonito as handling Dodie Boy Penalosa and another Pinoy boxer.
"We paid their bills, got them a place to live, all that. It just became too much to juggle, Nonito's own career and theirs so they left us but it was on good terms. Dodie is back in the Phillipines with his father," Rachel said.
On a personal note, I have to say I've come to like Mrs. D and think she is a plus to her hubby's career.
We got off to a rocky start when I offhandedly wrote that "if Rachel Donaire is a manager, then I'm an astronaut."
I quickly got a spirited and more than reasonable email response from her.
That was then, now is now.
Rachel is not a boxing manager, NASA hasn't been calling me but she is the power behind the throne on Team Donaire...in a good way.
(mlcmarley@aol.com)
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