By Chris Williams: You can see that Top Rank promoter Bob Arum is really pushing hard to make a star out of WBO super bantamweight champion. He’s matching him very carefully, not putting him in with dangerous guys, and focusing a lot on matching him against better known super bantamweights but without the talent to give Donaire problems.
With Arum’s #1 fighter Manny Pacquiao showing signs that he may not have much more time left before his career is finished, Arum is going to need a replacement to take over as a pay per view money maker. Top Rank fighters Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and Brandon Rios don’t appear to be the answer, although you can expect Arum to push hard to make both of them big stars in the near future.
Donaire seems to be the guy that Arum is looking to push real hard to become his next PPV fighter. I personally can’t picture a lot of boxing fans wanting to pay to see Donaire fight, but then again there’s a lot of Filipinos in the United States who might be interested in seeing another Filipino star continue as a world champion now that Pacquiao is starting to fade.
Arum might see Donaire’s built in Filipino fan base as strong enough for him to push the lever and switch Donaire’s fights from regular HBO to PPV. I’m trying hard to imagine seeing Donaire being given an HBO 24/7 for his PPV fights.
Given some of the old fighters and mismatched guys that he’s been facing lately, would boxing fans be interested in seeing Donaire fight someone like Chris John on PPV? I kind can’t see it. And I don’t see Arum matching Donaire against the best at featherweight when and if he moves up to that weight class, so the best I can see is Donaire vs. John.
I think the only way Donaire can become a big PPV fighter for Arum is if Donaire moves up all the way to welterweight and is able to continue to punch with big power in moving up that far. He’s fighting at 122 now, so he’d have to gain another 20 pounds to fight around 143 lbs, like Pacquiao has been doing.
At 5’8”, Donaire has the height to put on weight on, but I just don’t see him being able to make that jump and still be successful. If Arum tries to make Donaire’s fights PPV while he’s still fighting at super bantamweight, I see it as a miserable failure.
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