Team Donaire unfazed by judges’ composition

Los Angeles—Team Donaire is not fazed by the choice of fight officials for Saturday’s (Sunday morning in Manila) bout and assured worried Filipino boxing fans that Nonito Donaire Jr. won’t suffer the same fate as Manny Pacquiao did last month.

Names of the fight officials for Donaire’s world super bantamweight unification fight against Jeffrey Mathebula came out and elicited uproar over the choice of of one of the judges, who happens to be South African.

Reports have it that the IBF announced 68-year-old Pat Russell to be the third man on the ring at the Home Depot Center while Californians Steve Morrow and Lou Morret are judges along with South Africa’s Deon Dwarte.

But Donaire’s manager Cameron Dunkin told the Inquirer they are not going to push for a change of officials and that they trust the boxing commission of California to do their job the best they can.

“You can’t do anything about that anymore,” said Dunkin. “California has been doing a great job. Changing officials, if ever they do it, would be too concerning for Nonito and that’s the last thing I want to happen right now. There are two neutral judges, we’ll be fine.”

However, the names of fight officials have yet to appear on box-rec.com and will be formally announced during the weigh in on Friday, according to Top Rank publicist Lee Samuels.

REASON FOR WORRY

Reactions came out in Internet regarding the choice of the judges as boxing fans remembered Pacquiao’s recent loss to Bradley Timothy in Las Vegas.

Pacquiao seemed to have won the fight convincingly in the eyes of ringside reporters but Duane Ford and CJ Ross gave it to Bradley with identical 115-113 scores.  Jerry Roth had the Filipino winning, 115-113.

Boxing veteran analyst Ed dela Vega said Dwarte was the only judge that gave Mathebula a winning score when he dropped a split decision to Panama’s Celestino Caballero in 2009. That same year, Dwarte scored a draw in a fight between South African Ali Funeka and Nate Campbell, who won by majority decision.

But a source said calling for a change of fight officials could be a messy affair as it requires going to the state athletic commission. Also, the same source said doing so could jeopardize the boxer’s career because of the possibility of the judge getting back at the boxer in his future fights.

Meanwhile, Dunkin can’t say why it was the IBF that came up with the referee and judges when it is in fact a unification fight. Donaire holds the WBO belt, while Mathebula is IBF champion. The fight officials were reportedly announced by IBF’s Lindsey Tucker.  /inquirer With a report from Rene Bonsubre