YES guys. Wonder no more why Omar Narvaez was on survival mode the entire time.
One of my favorite boxing websites, fightnews.com, quoted Narvaez as having uttered the following admission.
?Neither of us wanted to make a mistake because in this kind of fight it can be fatal. You cannot neglect an opponent like Nonito at any time.?
Well, you can?t blame a guy for refusing to part with his mortality. Except that he got the other part wrong when he said neither of them wanted to make a mistake.
All night long, Donaire tried to salvage a horizontal finale. But alas, Narvaez had other plans. He covered when Donaire punched. He stepped back when Donaire attacked.
It didn?t help Nonito?s cause also that Narvaez seemed to possess a granite chin and superb conditioning.
THE FIGHT. In the first two rounds, Donaire came out firing, and unloaded several whistling hooks and jabs. There was no denying his unflinching resolve to make a dramatic follow-up to his 2-round destruction of the formidable Fernando Montiel.
Narvaez?s strategy was immediately known when he put up a high guard and timidly moved around the ring.
He clearly felt Nonito?s power even through his gloves, and his aggression would not go beyond throwing a feeble jab and landing a sporadic counter.
In the fourth round, Donaire connected with a three-punch combo that ended with a left hook thrown, which stunned Narvaez momentarily.
Instead of fighting back, he immediately reverted back into a defensive shell, clearly bent on finishing the round on his feet.
In the middle rounds, apparently realizing that his opponent was not out to win but merely to survive, Donaire started to throw occasional digs to the body in an effort to pull down the Argentinian?s high guard.
This netted him some mild success as he would be able to land an occasional lead right and some jabs.
By this time the crowd started booing. This only spurred Donaire?s offense even more and he repeatedly tried to penetrate Narvaez?s defenses, all to no avail.
By the championship rounds, Donaire was hopelessly ahead on points and the only way that Narvaez would win was via knockout, which seemed unattainable.
The scores were emblematic of how the fight went, with none of the judges giving Narvaez a single round.
THOUGHTS. My only criticism of Donaire?s performance was his reluctance to throw more body punches.
By the third round when he realized that his opponent was not even a threat but only trying to survive, he should have invested in going to the body more.
As sturdy as Narvaez was, the body blows that Donaire landed were clearly having an effect, but inexplicably, the latter went head hunting almost exclusively.
That being said, I did not find the fight boring at all. Maybe it?s the purist in me, but I truly appreciated the chess match going on.
One fighter was trying his best to bring down his opponent?s defenses in order to vanquish him.
Fittingly, the other was bent on thwarting every offensive move by putting up ramparts and doing all that was necessary to prevent annihilation.
But of course, at the end of the day, a championship boxing match has to be visually pleasing to the fans.
Viewed in this metric, the fight can be regarded as unwatchable but you have to credit Donaire?s effort to please his fans.
QUOTED. He came out full of confidence that he would give Manny Pacquiao a boxing lesson, but suddenly the arena fell on top of him.—Nacho Beristain on Juan Manuel Marquez?s first fight with Manny Pacquiao (www.fighthype.com)
LAST ROUND. It?s on Engr. Ricky Arciga of Dapa, Surigao del Norte. Thanks gaw and cheers!
