THE prospect of Omar Narvaez beating Nonito ?The Filipino Flash? Donaire Jr. is just about as close as the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) becoming the world?s best airport by the end of the month.
At the outset, there is no ignoring the fact that Donaire is the overwhelming pick to successfully defend his World Boxing Council (WBC) and World Boxing Organization Asso-ciation (WBO) bantam-weight titles against Argentina?s Narvaez on Sunday (Manila time) at New York?s Madison Square Garden. Narvaez, in fact, is being looked upon as a mere pawn in the Filipino?s grand plans of contesting the top spot in the sport?s pound-pound hierarchy.
Make no mistake, Narvaez is coming in with impressive credentials, including an untarnished record of 35-0 with 19 knockouts. Nicknamed ?El Huracan? (The Hurricane), Narvaez was a two-time member of Argentina?s Olympic boxing team (1996, 2000), reaching as far as the second round of the competitions. In 1999, Narvaez won a gold medal in the Pan Am Games and a silver medal in the World Amateur Championships.
Narvaez turned pro in 2000 and within two years was crowned WBO flyweight champion (112 pounds) with a 12-round unanimous decision victory over Adonis Rivas. He defended the title an amazing 16 times (becoming Argentina?s most successful champion after Carlos Monzon, who posted 14 successful defenses of the middleweight championship) before relinquishing it in 2009. Narvaez was at his best as a flyweight, beating notable names like Carlos Tamara, Brahim Asloum, Rayonta Whitfield and Omar Soto. Narvaez also trounced Filipino challenger Rexon Flores by unanimous decision in 2006.
In February this year, Narvaez captured his second world title by outpointing Everth Briceno for the vacant WBO super flyweight (115 pounds) diadem.
