Omar Narvaez. How good is this guy? Obviously a good record of 36-0, but that doesn't tell the whole story. I've seen only few youtube clips and he seems the brawling type, plus he doesn't seem as fast? Will this Narvaez guy be Donaire's "Dzinziruk"?
Yes except more head and shoulders above the rest at 115 than Dzin was over everyone at 154 (could've been argued he was anywhere from #1 to #7-ish). Narvaez is already 3-0 this year with one comfortable decision over Cesar Seda, who many thought was one of the next lower weight P4P entry.
He seems to be a pretty good fighter. However, stylistically, he doesn't match up well with Donaire. He's also up there in age and considerably smaller. Donaire should toy with this guy.
In his prime he was very good, at least against the level of opposition he was facing...but he holds absolutely no advantages here, apart from his experience over the distance..which I would classify more as miles on the clock at this stage. This is a slightly weird fight..Narvaez really burnt some bridges a few years ago when he pulled out of fighting Darchinyan and Hussein, just looked like a fighter who had settled in to fighting mediocre fighters at home...He seems an odd choice and if it had been at couple of years ago I would have been almost sure you have seen him pull out at the last minute...Now though, he is old...probably looking to cash out and with a few more of his compatriots making a crust in the U.S, he has now warmed to the idea of fighting outside of home.
Narvaez is a very good opponent. He is very crafty and can adapt well in the ring by adopting different styles. However he is 36, 5'3 and will go up in weight against a beast. He's gonna end up on his back for this one looking at the lights I feel. If Donaire got the same fire that he had in his previous fights it won't last long and since he's been out the ring for a while I would say that is very likely to happen.
