Omar Andrés "El Huracán" Narváez: the storm, at last, subsides...

A couple of hours ago, the man who co-holds the professional boxing record for "most world title defenses" (with Julio César Chávez González - standing at 27 non-consecutive, FYI) - lost for the fourth, and hopefully last time, at the age of 44, via split decision, to Pablo Ariel "Pablito" Gómez, surrendering his IBF bantamweight Latino belt, held since 2016. What is unique about this one among Narváez's losses is that, with all due respect to his young countryman and wihout meaning to rain too much on his parade tonight - Pablito kind of sucks. Narváez previously has been defeated only by elites at the height of their game (Nonito Donaire at 26-1 in 2011, Naoya Inoue at 7-0 in 2014, and Zolani Tete at 26-3 in 2018 ...with the Donaire & Tete losses both coming at bantamweight, well north of his natural effective weight as Narváez is a natural fly - and not a very big one; he could probably even have made 108 comfortably). All of those were past his prime, and past his 36th birthday, for the lighter weights a no man's land...meaning Narváez - who debuted somewhat late at 25 (because he represented Argentina twice at the Olympics, in '96 and 2000, eliminating Joan Guzmán at the former) was never actually bested in the pros while he was in the age bracket across which most consider it optimal for those in the flyweight range to fight. Granted, he stayed at home for the bulk of his WBO title run at flyweight (and his later one at super fly) and faced a few unworthy contenders, but also more than a handful of very good ones. He was at one time, and for quite a considerable time, a name floating at the fringes of most well-informed p4p lists. The southpaw never had light-switch power but did have an insane workrate (true to his nickname, downright torrential, and he kept this up into his 30's and 40's even, which is all the crazier) and defensive slickness a lot of Mayweather clones (looking at you, Broner) could only dream of wisftully, all without fighting anything like Mayweather. He would stand in front of guys and make them miss thirty punches in a row, but would be attacking on the frontfoot in between, unlike a PBF. He would also do this without getting his legs cemented into the floor, unlike a James Toney. His style was truly unique...and highly effective, ruling 112lbs for over a decade and then experiencing a renaissance at 115 after what had been meant to be his cashout farewell against Donaire (in which he laughed and spoiled his way to a clean and bloodless paycheck, making Donaire look awful while intentionally losing every round to lose a shutout, a move that lost him some fans' respect, while others defended his choice as perhaps a subtle commentary on and rejection of the seedy underbelly of the sport, as guys like him don't usually get the "pot of gold at the rainbow's end" paydays unless they hang around long enough to be fed to some much younger beast and violently kayoed...)

So what is different about Pablito Gómez? Why does this herald the closure of a legend's storybook? Well, he came in 11-10-1 (1), meaning a loss to Narváez would have put him at .500 and poised to plummet into negative territory. His draws and losses weren't against the cream of the Argue domestic crop, either. Pablito's a scrub, who lucked out in catching an overly proud ex-champ pushing their luck a bit too far - and now the younger man has on his record a win wildly out of proportion with his ability, and his elder has his first and only ignominious blemish. El Huracán tonight fought his Waterloo...the Grover Wiley to his Julio César Chávez. He won't ever be as widely celebrated as his co-record holder (and it might even be a struggle to get him into the IBHOF, as many will dismiss him as some obscure champ in a division - and country - that don't net much global attention, perceived as holding a belt hostage where there wasn't much cash to be generated to attract the best contenders, and whose only hardcore fans abroad were "internet boxing hipsters") but his departure from the sport is a solemn occasion, and deserves to be acknowledged. So long, you rat-tailed maniac.

 

What's absolutely bananas, though, is that you can make a very strong argument for all those 'biggest fights' coming past the point they would have mattered, or counted against his legacy. When he fought Donaire, he didn't belong in the ring with him for a couple of major reasons: he a) was already pretty old for a flyweight and by then already on the slide in terms of speed & reflexes (which are critical to successfully executing his style) and b) was a small fly as it was and really had no business whatsoever at bantam, certainly not jumping straight in with a p4p elite. He clowned and laughed all throughout, basically playing the part of gingerbread man and daring Nonito to catch and kayo him, knowing he still just about had enough legs in him left to run all night and lose a shutout. If anything that reflects more poorly on Donaire's legacy than Narváez's, since the onus was on the Filipino star to walk down & stop his ancient undersized opponent with diminished movement. Narváez actually won the proverbial 'event', or at least passed the 'stay on your feet while collecting a million dollars (or whatever his then career-high purse was)' challenge.

Then against Inoue, sure it was back at super fly where he more or less belonged ...except he was also three years older still than when he fought Donaire, and Inoue was even younger, fresher and more brutally explosive than Donaire had been.

Then with Tete, again he is up at bantam, ridiculously, and has already been shattered by Inoue, and has aged for another four years on top of that.

One could honestly say that while Gómez deserves less than 1% of the credit you might give a victory over a peak Narváez - his previous conquerors don't come anywhere near a hundred percent either. Tete maybe 10%, Inoue and Donaire about 25% each. Narváez during his absolute best years (and for several thereafter) was undefeated.

 

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Not in Buenos Aires, pal.