FILIPINOS cheered and exulted at the latest victory of Nonito “The Filipino Flash” Donaire last Sunday in Houston, Texas.

The Filipino-American but very consciously Filipino Donaire lives in the United States but frequently comes home. He has humanitarian projects here.

His victory somehow eased the pain caused by the shocking knockout loss of our icon Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao the week before to his archrival Juan Manuel Marquez of Mexico. Experts have said that had the well-timed and studiedly delivered punch not happened, the PacMan would have won again against Marquez by unanimous decision. But, as Pacquiao himself admitted it, in every fight there is that “one punch” that can knock out a boxer no matter how good.

Marquez’s victory made the Mexicans spill to their plazas to rejoice in exultation. For all of Mexico’s great standard-bearers including Manuel Marquez suffered defeat in our PacMan’s hands. Donaire, by humbling Mexico’s Jorge Arce last week, redeemed Philippine boxing honor.

His victory over Arce further established the status of Donaire as a top three pound-for-pound contender, or even the best boxer in terms of technique and punching power.

We have a new icon
A more significant aspect of 30-year old Donaire’s win is the emergence of an able new chief and champion of Team Philippines in case there is soon to be a changing of the guard in the Filipino boxing scene. While Pacquiao is still definitely the bigger superstar, and definitely still the “Nation’s Fist” or “Pambansang Kamao,” there are nagging doubts if Pacquiao can summon the will to give up all his distractions to return to the form and strength he had when he was establishing his reign as the world’s multi-weight division world champion.

He must give up his non-boxing pursuits except being a philanthropist if he is to regain his former focused boxer self. Not only is the campaign period for the 2013 elections drawing near. He has also launched the political career of his wife, Jinkee. And he has himself announced some work he intends to do in the side-careers that distracted him from giving the necessary time and energy to train seriously for his the last three fights.

From the time Pacquiao became a global household name, he has also dabbled in other professions: he has become a congressman, a television host, Bible preacher, a recording artist, an actor, and boxing promoter. Wearing too many hats made it impossible for Pacquiao to devote his full-time attention to his true calling—the boxing ring.

So, just in case and may God forbid it, if the glorious Manny Pacquiao by his own lack of willpower to drop his other interests ends up bowing out of the world of pugilism, we now have Donaire.

He has been exhibiting the will and concentration we saw in that Pacquiao who was set to conquer the world of boxing. Compared to Pacquiao’s training camp, Donaire’s is peopled only by a few important and truly useful people, including trainer Robert Garcia. And his training included plyometrics, which was sorely lacking in Pacquiao’s training for his fourth encounter fight with Marquez.

Donaire’s boxing camp was also not divided. Garcia alone called the shots. Comparatively speaking, Pacquiao’s latest training camp saw conditioning coach Alex Ariza relegated to the role of dietician.

On fight night against Jorge Arce on Sunday, Donaire was in terrific shape and finished his opponent viciously to the dismay of the predominantly 7,000-plus Mexican crowd.

He humbled four world class opponents this year
Overall for this year, Donaire defeated four world class opponents, the others being Wilfredo Vasquez Jr. (decision), Jeffrey Mathebula (decision), and Toshiaki Nishioka (9th round stoppage). Donaire knocked down Vasquez and Mathebula even if the fights ended with decision wins.

The four wins will likely earn Donaire the Boxer of the Year award from The Ring or other sport awarding bodies.

If there is anything that the camp of Pacquiao can learn from Donaire’s, it is that nothing can replace focus—in training and mental discipline—and that the profession of being a world-class boxer demands 101-percent devotion. One punch or a moment of carelessness could result in a dent in one’s hard-earned status. Just look at what happened in Las Vegas.

While Pacquiao is undoubtedly the greatest Filipino boxer ever up to now, his legacy will would have been more solid if he did not lose to Marquez in their latest meeting, and if he had knocked out Timothy Bradley and had not lost his title to him.

‘Donaire has no weakness’
On the other hand, many boxing observers believe that Donaire has better skills than Pacquiao, and The Ring website’s columnist Michael Rosenthal even said “I don’t think he [Donaire] has a weakness.”

While Pacquiao peaked earlier than Donaire when the PacMan was 30 years old, The Filipino Flash has the chance to surpass the achievements of Pacquiao in the squared circle for the simple reason that Donaire has better skills, and more importantly, has chosen to be a full-time boxer.

And as we have said in this space before, Manny Pacquiao can easily return to his best fighting form and continue to be the world’s boxing best—but only if he devotes himself fulltime to his chosen sport.

As for Donaire, we hope that he never ceases to be a role model for our young boxers aspiring to make it big in the international scene.