DONAIRE-NARVAEZ TIFF WILL END WITHIN NINE ROUNDS
By Ed de la Vega, DDS
PhilBoxing.com
Wed, 19 Oct 2011
From all indications, it seems that the much awaited title fight between the Filipino Flash, Nonito Donaire and his Argentinean foe, Omar Narvaez will be a huge firefight between two opponents who in paper are perfectly matched.
I however predict that it will not take more than nine rounds for Donaire to take the ?O? off the record of Narvaez.
The fight will be much be like the Battle of the Falkland Islands a few years back where the mighty English subdued a supposedly equally mighty Argentineans. In that battle the forces from Argentina seemed equally matched with the English. If I am not mistaken, early in the fight they even sunk an English destroyer using a French Exocet missile. But when England stepped up the ante with their Harrier jets and battle ships, the battle became one-sided.
I for one believe the same will happen on Saturday night at the good ole? Madison Square Garden. Donaire will have his handful at the beginning, but as soon as he gets his bearing, Narvaez won?t even have time to say ?Don?t Cry for Me Argentina?. He will be too busy clearing his head as he stares at the arena lights lying on his back.
Narvaez may have an excellent record, (35-0-2, 19K0) but he has never faced a dominant guy as Donaire who can also pack a wallop. Just ask Vic Darchinyan, Vlodomyr Syderenko, Fernando Montiel and Hernan Marquez. They are all recipients of the signature Donaire counter left hook.
And, save for a handful of fights in France and Italy, Narvaez has never set foot in a ?big stage? with all the bells and whistles like the WAMU Theater at the MSG in New York. He fought mostly in Argentina where he enjoys a hometown advantage. This one factor in itself may make or break the fight for him. If he gets awed by the hassle and buzzle of the Big Apple, huge crowd and noise, he will have a very short night.
In addition, being short ( 5?3?) he will have to get close to the tall (5?6?) and long armed Donaire in order to be effective. But in order to accomplish that, he must come in with full barrel blazing With that, he will become a perfect target for the counter-punching Donaire. One solid left hook is all it takes and the fight will be over.
Another factor going against Narvaez is the fact that he is naturally small. He fought mostly as a flyweight and a handful as super fly. His fight with Donaire is the first time he is stepping up to bantamweight. Hopefully, he will carry his power with him that gave him 19KOs in his record.
Being disadvantaged in size, he has no prayer to win via a 12 round decision. And, he has no chance pulling an Antonio de Marco (vs. Jorge Linares) type of a win. At fight time, he will be facing a very fast Donaire who may come into the ring as big as a featherweight or even a junior lightweight ( Donaire naturally walks at around 140lbs) and the potential and the capability to end the fight very quickly.
Finally, Narvaez is up there in age. This may not be a factor, but taking all things equal, a younger, bigger and stronger boxer almost always comes up on top of an older, more experienced but smaller opponent.
Top photo: Donaire during Tuesday's media day in New York.
Donaire (R) showing his mouthguard with the author.
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