As good as it is to see Nonito Donaire back in action tomorrow night; it?s hard to get extremely excited for this choice of opponent. Don?t get me wrong, Omar Narvaez is a world class fighter and he deserves his chance in the spotlight. But when these two enter the ring in New York, the size disparity is going to be obvious. That?s not to say smaller fighters can?t beat larger ones, they can without a doubt. But in this case the size advantage also comes with a definitive edge in power and a probable edge in speed.
Donaire?s exhilarating knock out of Fernando Montiel seems many moons away, but his combination of speed and power along with his Filipino ancestry has kept him at the forefront of most prognosticators P4P lists. He can punch with both hands, has a solid defense and has never been down. The only potential weakness I have seen is that he can be smothered a bit on the inside, but getting there is an issue around his quick and powerful strikes.
The unbeaten Narvaez has held a title belt for almost a decade. While he may not be well known to American viewers, he is very skilled and unafraid to press the fight. He doesn?t have a lot of power, but he has a unique kind of pressure boxing style. He stands only 5?3 but is very difficult to hit and he fires combinations at awkward angles.
Omar has taken a lot of backlash in the boxing community for not meeting other stalwarts in the lower weight classes. But the fact of the matter is that the money is just not there to make the bigger fights. These guys make good money fighting at home and taking the same, or even shorter money to hit the road doesn?t make cents or sense. He has defended titles in Italy, Spain and France over the years. But the need for the alphabet titles that we as fans hold in low esteem is very real for these little guys. I?m just using Narvaez as an example for the widespread shouts of ducking for many fighters like him that earn nice money fighting at home. It is prize fighting after all and coming to New York to face a fighter of Donaire?s stature in a new division is all I need to see. Willing isn?t always enough to get fights done in this business. I wish more fans would keep that in mind.
On to the bout, I expect Narvaez to have moderate success early on bouncing in and out while Donaire measures him and gets off with his jab. As the rounds go by the physical nature of Nonito?s punches and the sheer size should discourage Narvaez advances and put him firmly on his back foot. While there is no quit in Omar, by the sixth round or so I think he will be out of options and fighting close to a battle of survival. Somewhere around round nine I think Donaire will drop the game Argentinean with a hook and while Narvaez will rise, his corner or the referee will put an end to things shortly thereafter. Donaire is just too big and well rounded. I could see Narvaez lasting the distance, but I can?t find a scenario where he is going to win.
