A $100,000 bonus to fight Donaire
MANILA, Philippines—A $100,000 bonus just to fight – and not dodge – Nonito Donaire Jr.
Top Rank president Todd duBoef put that “bounty’’ for the next opponent of the WBO/WBC bantamweight champion whose title fight against Omar Narvaez last Oct. 22 ended in a whimper when the erstwhile unbeaten Argentinian refused to mix it up all night long.
“There was a great crowd in there and the people were really excited, and there was a very real sense that the place was about to explode,” duBoef told Kevin Iole of Yahoosports.com. “And then [Narvaez] went out there not even trying to win and it deflated the whole place. It killed the atmosphere.’’
DuBoef, according to the article, was irked when Narvaez even climbed the ropes after the final bell as if to celebrate the fact that he didn’t hit the floor against the Filipino Flash.
He didn’t get a single round from any of the three judges at the Theatre of the Madison Square Garden in New York City.
The bonus will be on on top of the guaranteed prize money for Donaire’s rival.
Donaire, in his twitter account, said he’s “excited about the future match-ups considering the $100,000 bounty on my head.’’
Donaire, who is set to arrive in the country today, is likely to next fight Jorge Arce, the WBO super bantam champ from Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico, in February, according to Top Rank CEO Bob Arum.
The Filipino champ, who was born in Bohol, raised in Gen. Santos City and moved to San Leandro, California, when he was 11, was aching to make a showcase performance against Narvaez to boost his pay-per-view status.
But after the Narvaez bout, duBoef vowed Donaire won’t go through that sad experience again.
“We brought him in because we had looked at his past fights and he was a guy who fought. He threw a lot of punches. We wanted to put Nonito into a good fight, and this was a guy who, from everything we had seen in the past, looked like he would come to fight and wouldn’t be intimidated. When (Narvaez) jumped on the ropes, I was extremely angry. I was like, ‘What is wrong with you? You’re celebrating a loss, just because you made it to the end?,’’ duBoef told the website.
The Top Rank executive said the sport doesn’t need “appearance-fee mindset.’’ Narvaez pocketed $250,000, while Donaire earned $725,000 for the fight.
