Spat over the Donaire snub

IT’S bad enough that you don’t intend to show up at a party honoring you and your peers. What’s worse is when you don’t send word you’re not coming at all.

It would have been an awesome occasion: Boxer Nonito Donaire Jr., the world’s consensus Fighter of the Year exciting his followers and returning the favor to the Philippine Sporwriters Association (PSA) at its annual awards dinner nine days ago.

The nation’s oldest media guild at 64, the PSA is celebrated for the depth of its alumni that have gone on to bigger careers, and for its Athlete of the Year plum that Donaire and three other athletes would have shared at the historic Manila Hotel last March 16.

But Nonito, who styles himself as the new Filipino Flash ostensibly after the gentleman boxer, Gabriel “Flash” Elorde, was not around.

This year’s top PSA award is Donaire’s third, two short of the five bestowed on Manny Pacquiao. If the budding boxing legend would choose to bow to someone, it’s safe to say that would be to his idol—the fighting congressman from Sarangani —arguably the most important Filipino athlete in history.

Pacquiao, in a rare bout with arrogance, also blew off the PSA and his Athlete of the Year award in 2003. He chose not to come then because it was reportedly his billiards night.

Nonito was also named PSA co-Athlete of the Year last year. “He didn’t show up for the second straight year and, again, there was no word from him or anything,” PSA president Rey Bancod told the Inquirer’s June Navarro.

In all fairness, Donaire, the WBO  super bantamweight titlist, has a more pressing matter to attend to. He is in the thick of training in California for his unification bout with Cuba’s WBA champion Guillermo Rigondeaux in New York on April 13.

For Donaire, flying to Manila to bond with the sportswriting community and the nation’s sports glitterati while showing import to his award, was out of the question. But common courtesy dictates that at the very least, he should have informed the PSA he was busy.

Anyway, Donaire’s absence did nothing to diminish the prestige of the PSA awards.

Still, as rebuffs go, this one’s for the books.

It even sparked a shouting match between two scribes that turned ugly on social media. The snub story’s comical, says one of the combatants. A_ _licker replied the other, “can’t Donaire just say he can’t attend…”

Even a “renowned” sportswriter tweeted, at first echoing the sentiment that Nonito should have sent word, but quickly changed his tune when Donaire explained he was at a loss.

The boxer explained he was not formally invited by email or snail mail that he was among the PSA’s chosen, and thus didn’t know who to speak with for his non-attendance.

Meantime, Nonito’s supporters are up in arms over the snub angle to the sportswriters’ awards. Did this lead to knitted brows, even bitter beer faces in the PSA? I strongly doubt it.

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(St. Pius X Institute in Cuyapo, Nueva Ecija holds its yearly alumni reunion on April 19. Among the attendees are members of the Class of 1966, who will march with the mantra “Forever Young.” It’s unbelievable that we graduated from that venerable Catholic school almost half a century ago.)