Uncle Bob loves Rigondeaux more than Nonito Donaire

Uncle Bob loves Rigondeaux 

more than Nonito Donaire

By Alex P. Vidal

It is no secret in boxing community that between Guillermo Rigondeaux and Nonito Donaire Jr. , Top Rank boss Bob Arum considers the Cuban more bankable and manageable. 
Although Donaire (31-2, 20 KOs) fights under the tutelage of Top Rank, Uncle Bob has a special preference for the 32-year-old reigning WBA super bantamweight champion from Santiago de Cuba, Cuba who just collected the Filipino Flash's WBO title on a one-sided 12-round unanimous decision win on April 14 at the Radio City Music Hall in New York City.

There was no doubt the Cuban fighter fought with a big heart and wisely weaved and bobbed en route to nailing the biggest win in his fistic career since the Olympic avalanche.
Donaire's love affair with Uncle Bob turned sour two years ago when about two weeks after scoring a sensational second-round knockout of Mexico's Fernando Montiel to pocket the world 118-lb diadem in his first HBO appearance, Donaire dumped Top Rank and cavorted with Oscar dela Hoya's Golden Boy.

FREE

It was Donaire himself who announced that he was a free agent when he "left" Top Rank after the "expiration" of his contract. The jumping of ship resulted in an ugly legal fracas between the two top promotional outfits in the world. 
Donaire was forced to go home to Top Rank like a prodigal son when the court upheld Top Rank's contract and enjoined Golden Boy from promoting Donaire when the case went to arbitration.
Despite the reunion, Uncle Bob wasn't happy about the negative publicity whipped up by the Donaire caper. While the wily lawyer-promoter was having a good working relationship with Manny Pacquiao, he felt that he had to deal with a spoiled brat in his ward in the person of Donaire. Up to last Saturday's showdown with Rigondeaux (12-0, 8 KOs), Unlce Bob was reportedly harboring "mixed" feelings with 30-year-old Donaire who now lives in San Leandro, California.

ADAMANT

Top Rank president Todd duBoef was adamant that Top Rank still had a valid contract. He did not want to do a financial settlement with Golden Boy. He wanted to retain Donaire's services and was pleased to get it done, according to ESPN's Dan Rafael, who followed the controversy from start to end. 
It took 10 months before Top Rank brought back Donaire into action winning the WBC and WBO bantamweight crowns with a 12-round unanimous decision win over Omar Andres Narvaez at the Madison Square Garden in New York City on Oct. 22, 2011.
Aside from the fading Jorge Arce whom he blasted in three rounds for WBO super bantamweight title in Houston, Texas on December 12, 2012, Donaire's four other opponents, including Rigondeaux, were meant to torment him in his reign as world champion. And Uncle Bob never gave a hoot. The boxing patriarch's attitude towards Donaire was "I-don't-care-whether-you-survive-or-not-as-long-as-record-shows-I-performed-my-obligations-to-promote-you."

PACQUIAO

Unlike Manny Pacquiao who enjoyed the "protection" of Uncle Bob (he made sure Pacquiao's opponents were mostly semi-retired if not senior citizens), Donaire was abandoned like a leper in a snake pit to be feasted by cobras and reptiles. Because of his talent and ring prowess, Donaire managed to eat alive those vermin. 

When Top Rank and Uncle Sam paraded the dangerous and slick-moving Rigondeaux against Donaire, they made sure the Filipino Flash could not anymore sustain the winning streak against quality customers Wilfredo Vazquez Jr., Jeffrey Mathebula, Toshiaki Nishioka, and Arce. And his reign of terror had to end when he rammed into Rigondeaux Express.