This hasn’t gotten much play in local media yet, but a very curious item involving Nonito Donaire caught my eye last week. BoxingScene.com reports allegations made by his wife Rachel that Manny Pacquiao’s management team does not want Donaire to appear in cards featuring the pound-for-pound king. Rachel says Pacquiao adviser Michael Koncz had called Top Rank, which promotes both fighters, to make sure that Donaire did not appear in the undercard of the Pacquiao-Margarito fight last November.

“I know for a fact that the November fight, Koncz called in and asked them to take him off the card,” Rachel said. “From what I heard it's Michael Koncz doing all the dealings because Nonito is not with MP Promotions and he doesn't want him on the cards.”

My curiosity was piqued because just recently, I was speaking to a boxing insider who was telling me that he felt that Manny Pacquiao did not exactly like Nonito Donaire. He pointed out as proof the fact that Pacquiao never invites Donaire to his birthday party, which has counted among guests foreign boxers such as David Diaz and Juan Manuel Lopez.

I’m not sure if there’s any truth to any of these; there’s no way of knowing short of talking to Manny Pacquiao and getting a direct answer, and lord knows that’s virtually impossible. What I do know that it’s monumentally stupid for Rachel Donaire to speak out against Pacquiao. It doesn’t even matter if her party truly is aggrieved; you’re not winning a PR battle against Manny Pacquiao unless your name is Jinkee and you’re married to him and you’re speaking out against his floozies. For a Filipino boxer to go head-to-head with Pacquiao in the forum of public opinion is suicide.

As it is, it’s not the first time a member of Team Donaire has done something stupid in speaking out to an online media outlet. Earlier this month, BoxingNews.com published a story called “Nonito Donaire: The Sadness Behind the Smile” wherein the boxing champion discussed not just his estrangement from his father, but also about his family woes and the poverty he experienced growing up:

Nonito can recall harvesting rice, cutting it up with a knife, but he earned more money by climbing trees and plucking grapefruits and pomelos. He would skin them and sell them to his classmates so he could buy lunch. In the summer he and his mother would make homemade lollipops to provide a little extra income.

...

“I remember when we rationed our food between the siblings and, of course, I’d get the smallest share. That’s why I think I take care of what I have because I’m blessed with what I have and I know how hard life was growing up.”

Donaire’s mother had to respond to Nonito after that article. She took offense to Donaire’s description of the family’s squalor in an interview with Philboxing:

Donaire Jr. tried very hard to make himself look like Manny Pacquiao, like growing up very poor, almost nothing to eat, no food at the table, smallest share in the table. Nanay Donaire said that they were poor but not very poor as his son said. Nanay told me that she was a teacher and Dodong was a soldier, there was always food at the table, maybe not grand but was always enough for everybody.

The response by Donaire’s mom, who had previously kept quiet about the issues between father and son, also included stories about Rachel and her family’s bad influence over Nonito. All the drama has proven to be a big distraction to the Donaire camp as he prepares for his February bout against Fernando Montiel, which is considered to be the biggest, most important battle of his career.

But hey, distractions leading up to the big fight? Hey, there’s one thing Donaire and Pacquiao have in common.