Boxing enthusiast and former Cotabato governor Manny Piñol was among the members of the media that Nonito Donaire included in his Facebook tirade yesterday. Shortly after I posted the last piece about Donaire’s online fight against Chino Trinidad, someone on Twitter pointed me to a very interesting piece by Piñol on PhilBoxing.com:

By the way, just a friendly advice and this will be good for your health and well-being: Do not threaten me or other media people with your Sonic-Boom punch that knocked out Fernando Montiel. You could get into legal troubles with that statement in the Philippines. You could get sued for grave threats and that is a crime.

Also, do not brag about you Sonic-Boom punch. Remember this: a bullet travels faster than a punch.

Holy crap, that certainly sounded like a threat. At least, Nonito treated it like one:



The boxing champion also kinda pussy’d out on his earlier statement:



Then Piñol wrote a follow-up post saying that Nonito Sr. called him up to apologize in behalf of his son, who also made amends with the politician:

Nonito Sr. asked me if I could talk to his son by phone and when I said "Yes," he immediately gave me the boxing champion's number.

"Gov, I apologize for what appeared (in the Facebook account where he threatened to give me a sample of the Sonic Boom punch that knocked out Fernando Montiel) there," Nonito Jr. said when he received my call.

He explained that the threatening post that appeared in his Facebook wall was prepared by "his people" who are responding to all the negative stories they get from the media and he was not aware that my name was included among the list of targets of the Sonic Boom punch.

Apparently, a group of people close to him and the Marcial family monitor all of the negative stories and posts in the Internet and respond to all of these without necessarily clearing it with Nonito, Jr.

It all sounds very fishy to me, especially since Donaire’s Facebook page looks like it’s being personally updated, and there hasn’t been any mention of a conversation with Piñol. As a huge fan of Donaire’s in-ring work, I just wish this would all end soon.

(Also, can media agree not to threaten to shoot our world boxing champions, or any of our athletes in general? Would that be too much to ask?)