Filipino Flash set to light up Garden


By GEORGE WILLIS Californias loss is New Yorks gain. At least for this weekend when Nonito The Filipino Flash Donaire defends his WBC and WBO bantamweight titles Saturday night at the Theater at Madison Square Garden.

Donaire (26-1, 18 KOs) might be the best boxer fans on the East Coast never have seen live. The California resident by way of General Santos City, Philippines, plans to change that with an impressive performance against unbeaten Omar Narvaez of Argentina (35-0-2, 19 KOs), who made 16 successful defenses as a flyweight champion.

HBO is showing the fight around the nation, but it helps a lot for my talent to be seen on the East Coast, Donaire said before a workout yesterday at Kingsway Gym in Manhattan. During my public workouts there were a lot of fans, Latino fans and Filipino fans. Its good for them to see me in person rather just on TV.

Donaires fight will headline Saturdays HBO Boxing After Dark and marks the Gardens return to boxing since phase one of the renovation began. The big arena will be open for boxing on Dec. 3 when Miguel Cotto and Antonio Margarito stage their much anticipated rematch.

A fight hasnt been held in the Theater since May 15, 2010, when Amir Khan of Britain defeated Brooklyns Paulie Malignaggi. The last fight in the big arena was when Cotto defeated Joshua Clottey in June 2009.

Boxing is in our soul here, said Scott ONeill, president of Madison Square Garden Sports. Boxing is part of our roots and who we are. When you travel around the world whether its Tokyo, Sweden or London, and you tell them youre from Madison Square Garden, the first thing people talk about is the Mecca of boxing. Its part of our identity.

Donaires latest title defense originally was targeted for the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif., but a conflict forced a venue change and boxing promoter Top Rank decided New York woul! d be a g reat location to expand the boxers fan base.

The 28-year-old southpaw made his first visit to New York in October and seems comfortable in the Big Apple this week.

The response that weve gotten has been pretty strong from a general public sale and media interest in seeing this kid, said Carl Moretti of Top Rank. They realize hes a top five pound-for-pound fighter and the fight matches the best 118-pounder in the world [Donaire] against the best 115-pounder in the world.

Between training sessions, Donaire has been active in the community. He spoke to students at The Filipino School of New York & New Jersey in Jersey City on Monday as part of Filipino American History Month and will support the Keep A Breast Foundation by wearing pink on his boxing trunks Saturday night.

Donaire is spectacular and hes electric, ONeill said. He can light up a room when he walks in. Hes as impressive out of the ring as he is in it.

The theater wasnt part of the phase one transformation, so it will still seat the usual intimate gathering of about 5,000 fans. If all goes well, it wont be long before Donaire will be fighting in the big arena soon.


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