After watching JMM/Pacquiao AGAIN last night (the PPV version for all you cheapos out there ), something really stuck with me during the pageantry...who in the hell is gonna fill this Pacquiao void? The obvious answer would be Nonito Donaire, but to what extent will he be able to fill it? He's getting closer to 30, but outside of the boxing world, he's still relatively unknown.

Honestly, I dont believe ANY Filipino fighter will be able to do what Pacquiao has done, but Im also wondering if this has put that much more pressure on Donaire, or Arum for that matter. IF Donaire happens to come up short and not be able to recover...will this be the last of the National Anthem of the Philippines for a while? Pretty scary thought...

With that in mind...I will leave you all another thing to think about...who will be the bigger Mexican star between Canelo and Ortiz? As I've seen since in my years in boxing, Mexican fighters come in bunches, but there are very few "stars" when its all said and done. Of course Ortiz headlined the biggest PPV event of the year (as of now), but its obvious that Canelo is a bigger ticket seller...or am I wrong? The tracks of OLDH, Barrera, JMM, Morales, and Vargas, will have to be filled, but Im sure Oscar is working on that right now.

Who will be the next big American fighter after FMJ hangs 'em up?

Thoughts?

Filipino fighter - after Donaire, I don't know, but there's supposedly some young boxer from that country who's on the come up. I've forgotten his name and I'm too lazy to search, but if what I read is reliable then he could become popular. Now, I'm not a Pacquaio hater (I just think that he's nowhere near as good as people say) so his global fame IMO is "artificial." I say artificial because, IMO, a lot of his fame is due to him being the "anti-FMJ."

Canelo, or Ortiz - easily Canelo. Ortiz is Mexican American, which IMO dilutes his popularity a bit in Mexico, while Canelo is 100% south of the border, vato (even though he doesn't look the part) and still has that north of the border appeal.

American fighters - for the boxing fans, there are a lot of very good American boxers, but as far as crossover boxers, Berto could be the one if he beats Ortiz in the rematch and also whichever young lion eventually overthrows FMJ Jr., will be well positioned for some crossover recognition. Still though if/when the promoters discover the next great white hope (sorry Kelly Pavlik, your moment in the sun might have passed...), then I think that American boxing will have the "superstar" and hopefully I won't have to see another irritiating "boxing is dead" comment.

I don't think Pacquiao is the anti-FMJ you want us to believe. He was making names when FMJ was 1. retired and 2. in a different weight class (154).

As to question, NONE. The Philippines has the most antiquated, ineffective training methodologies in the world. It would take another mutant like Pacquiao to get them in the boxing world map again.

That's my opinion, you obviously have the right to believe whatever you want to believe. I guess we could go back and do a proper, chronological comparison of who fought who, when they fought, how much they earned in PPV and the general main stream press coverage in different countries, but that isn't going to happen. I'll stick to my opinion, because it's based on reading, watching and listening and won't try to change yours.

Fair enough.

By the way, the Philippines has this gym/stable where all their fighters gas out early. They dont know how to use or properly use PEDs. They should probably hire an American conditioning coach.

Ha! That's funny.
You know who I would like to see get a bit more press, the Korean and Japanese boxers. The sport is apparently less popular there now than it was back in the day, but I think that a nice set of articles by Fight Hype on the champions that have come from those two countries would be pretty interesting. Actually they could probably do a bit on Chris John (even though he's Indonesian) too.
Hype, I think that would be an interesting article for fight fans - ha, more than a hint there!

LMFAO. Thanks for getting my day started off with a laugh. That was classic.

Andre Ward and Mike Jones

Ward.

Andre Ward would be the next logical guess, but even he doesn't have that crossover image quite yet. People hardly know him outside of boxing, but you have to blame that on his promoter and management...and some of that blame falls on him as well. As far as Mike Jones...hell no! If so, then he's got a loooong way to go.

There really isn’t anyone left. Pacquiao has a younger brother who fought in boxing (but retired early in his professional career) and his name is Bobby Pacquiao. If he hadn’t retired, he could perhaps fill in half of the shoes (I say half because he’s not really like Manny. He plays dirty – love low blows all the time – Freddie used to train him too alongside Manny, but decided to drop him – and then finally he retired).
Bobby is the more blatant version of Manny. If Manny is suspected of using PEDs, Boddy doesn’t need all that, instead he goes in the ring and outright plays dirty.

When Manny leaves boxing perhaps the Philippine anthem will be gone for a while in the ring. But I guess people here will move on to other sports where Filipinos are equally doing great at, such as the World Pool Championships (billiards). There are several Filipino world champions in the sport of Pool as we speak. And they’ve been doing it even longer than Manny was making a big name in the ring. Equestrian is also another sport where Filipinos are good at and are gaining world wide acclaim. Also lets not forget that pretty Filipinas are doing good in beauty pageants all the time such as in the Miss Universe and Miss World and Miss Earth contests to name a few. Dragon boat racing and Bowling are also sports where Filipinos have gained world wide recognition in. So overall it’s not bad. People here will move on to these other sports. I mean before Manny was popular, people here were into all these other sports.
As for the category of “fighting” in particular, perhaps they’d try their luck in MMA next if they couldn’t produce a replacement for Pacquiao in boxing. There are a lot of Filipinos into MMA already. In this country we have what is called URCC (the Philippine version of the UFC) where Filipino Mixed Martial Artists duke it out. So yeah… if no one can fill the boxing shoes perhaps someone out there can do the MMA thing for this country and maybe become popular in UFC or something. It’s gonna be a long shot though. And it’s all a big IF.

Mercito Gesta

To be honest, many Filipinos don't dig Nonito, mainly b/c they consider him more American than Pinoy. For instance, look how quick they turned on him when it was reported he was trying to leave Top Rank. They went in on his (fine @$$, 100,000-degree black belt) wife, comparing her to Jinkee. What's funny is, not many Pinoys/Pinays question why Nonito isn't on the same card w/ Manny P.

So, to say "IF Donaire falls short" is a bit naive....its should read, "SINCE Nonito is falling short..."

I thought Bobby was older...in any event, Humberto Soto beat THE dog sh*t outta him (w/ Manny ringside for that @$$-taxing). So, unless he started eating his "spinach", Bobby wasn't going a damn place, but to the canvas for a ref's count.

Cant argue with that. I figured they would give him a pass since he is a pretty good fighter and nobody is in line behind as far as Filipinos are concerned. I dont believe anybody will be on Pac's level...I mean really, this dude came from the sticks, from nothing, and he's a fuckin' global susperstar. If anything, he's done as much as paved the way for any Filipino that may follow him in the future...dude's the MJ (Jordan and Jackson) of The Philippines.



Oh dont worry Noles...thats just Buffalo venting. We only hear from here on Pacquiao and Mayweather threads...other than that, he floats in the wind

I should've guessed by the hopes residing in equestrian and billiards.

Yep! As much shit as Buffalo talks about Pacquiao, I would only hope that he's able to walk outside and check the mail or at least let his pup take a poop in the backyard ...

Donaire's wife is in a different category from Pacquaio's wife. Donaire's wife is proper!! All of the hatred they sent her way is nothing more than jealousy.

I dont think Donaire will ever have to fight as hard as Pacquiao and the impossible has already been done by Pac to make the Philippines known. So Donaire has nothing left to do but make the most of what he has, and not try to outdo Manny...which is impossible.