Two for the price of one.
On Sunday, November 6 (Saturday, November 5 Las Vegas time), two of the Philippines’ best pugilists will fight on the same night. That’s right, for the first time ever, Manny Pacquiao and Nonito Donaire will be on one card together.
The headline attraction will pit Pacquiao against Jessie Vargas for the WBO Welterweight title. Prior to that, Donaire will defend his WBO Super Bantamweight title against unbeaten Jessie Magdaleno.
Both Pacquiao and Donaire are considered one of the best boxers in the world. Their fights have become the stuff of legend, and each have the titles to back their claim.
However, they have never shared the same stage. That is, until this Sunday in Las Vegas.
For Pacquiao, his return to the ring came unexpectedly. After defeating Timothy Bradley in April, he initially announced his retirement in order to focus as a politician, but despite winning a seat in the Senate (with mostly negative reviews from critics), Pacquiao decided to give boxing another shot.
For Donaire, it will be his third defense of the WBO Super Bantamweight title he won over Cesar Juarez in December of last year. Two weeks after Pacquiao’s victory over Bradley, Donaire successfully defended his belt against Zsolt Bedak.
As far as the Philippine broadcast rights go, that honor goes to Solar Entertainment and GMA Network, since Pacquiao is tagged as the headliner in this card. It will air on a delayed basis on GMA and Solar Sports, and live on Super Radyo DZBB 594 and all cable and satellite pay-per-view outlets.
For Donaire, it will be his first fight since 2009’s bout with Rafael Concepcion (which coincidentally aired on GMA) in which ABS-CBN does not have any television rights. The said network has owned the rights to all Top Rank cards that do not involve Pacquiao since 2010.
With two of the Philippines’ top-ranked boxers fighting on the same night, expect the millions to congregate and watch this unprecedented event blow-by-blow. But like Pacquiao’s last fight with Bradley, it remains to be seen if there are still believers in the Pacman.
From the Tube 
That was early. Maybe you just read my perspective on #PacVargas earlier and made it as a bit of inspiration.
The difference between mine and yours is that my own is based on historical (including political) undertones but yours is integrated more with your specialized sports beat.
Anyway, my instincts tell me that not all of us will watch Pacquiao and some of them will watch until Donaire and move on with their ordinary lives.
Probably, but the third Pacquiao-Bradley fight still rated higher despite our notions that many won’t watch due to his ongoing senatorial campaign. So, it’s still up for discussion whether or not people will still watch his fight against Vargas.
The barometer of the people’s notional verdict on him will now be based on traffic conditions, crime rates or maybe even church attendance come that day.
Indeed. If the streets are virtually quiet this Sunday, then we know why.
Will GMA/Solar air the bout of Donaire even if they don’t have the rights to other bouts of Top Rank which is owned by ABS-CBN Sports? Or will they not.
They’ll be in the package for GMA on this day. But afterwards, ABS-CBN Sports will now have to face a dilemma if those undercard fights aside from Donaire’s will take part of their series in S+A.
That’s a big question, since Top Rank is signed with ABS to air all non-Pacquiao fights. And since the network is the de facto home of Donaire fights since 2010, they’re having second thoughts of whether or not they’ll reair Sunday’s bout in the future. Mr. Arum and Mr. Laurena will need to think wisely about this dilemma.
S+A did not air the Donaire fight and aired that instead on Solar Sports and GMA. Donaire lost his fight, but Sen. Pacquiao won his fight. Looks like Sen. Pacquiao still has energy left to fight yet again.
S+A only airs Donaire fights whenever he is in the main event. Solar Sports and GMA aired it yesterday because Pacquiao was the headliner while Donaire fought in the undercard.
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