Whether you like him or hate him, WBO Super Flyweight champion Omar Andres Narvaez (43-1-2, 23) is an extremely talented and skilled fighter who has remained a world champion constantly over the last 12 years. That is despite the fact that the Argentinian is now 39 years old, in Super Flyweight terms that makes an antique. Narvaez retained his title once again this past Friday night with an excellent victory over Mexico's young, bigger and fresher challenger, Felipe Orucuta (29-3, 24). The men were meeting for the second time after Orucuta had given Narvaez an incredibly tough test back in 2012, pushing Narvaez to a controversial split decision. This time however the only controversy was whether or not Pat Russell had been wearing classes or had a drink prior to the fight. Narvaez started well and seemed to be clearly in charge through 5 rounds as he used his speed to gain a notably lead on the scorecards. Orucuta, to his credit, was trying but seemed to be well out classed by the talented and diminutive Argentinian who used his high guard and counter left hands to great effect. At many times early in the bout it seemed the men were in different leagues. Through the middle rounds Orucuta managed to put his foot on the gas and for a few rounds managed to do enough enough to silence the champion who was put under serious pressure and seemed to struggle to reply. For a few moments it looked like the 39 year old champion was struggling with the pace, much like he had in their first meeting. The comeback looked possible all of a sudden. Orucuta's success however was short lived and in round 10 Narvaez took over again winning the final 3 rounds clearly as a tired looking Orucuta struggled to mount any sort of a sustained attack. On our card it was a clear, though well fought, win for Narvaez though somehow all 3 judges had it as a thoroughly competitive bout with scorecards of 116-112 to Narvaez, twice, and a frankly laughable 114-114 scorecard from the previously mentioned Pat Russell who appeared to have been watching something different to everyone else. Although this was a majority decision in the record books it really wasn't that close and Narvaez didn't deserve to have anything but a unanimous decision. It's worth noting that Narvaez looked much better than Srisaket Sor Rungvisai did some 20 or so hours earlier. Srisaket, a former WBC champion at Super Flyweight, looked somewhat rusty in his bout with Zoren Pama. Although we'd like to see the Thai battle against Narvaez, today's performance would suggest that the Argentinian would be a clear favourite. (Image courtesy of the 13th round)
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WBO Super Flyweight champion Omar Andres Narvaez (42-1-2, 23) has held world titles for well over a decade. He's now 39 but he is still one of the sports most hidden fighters, despite a high profile, though dull, loss to Nonito Donaire back in 2011. In his long reign as WBO Flyweight and Light Flyweight champion very few fighters have managed to really test the Argentinian who is often a wonder to watch, especially given his age. The one man who has ruffled Narvaez's feathers and given him a very tough night in the ring is Mexico's big, strong and heavy handed Felipe Orucuta (29-2, 24). The two men met back in May 2013 and for one of the first times in his career Narvaez was forced to really dig deep to retain his title. He was pushed all the way by a hungry young lion ready to take his crown. This Friday the two men meet for the second time in what is the day's stand out bout, by a huge margin. Since their first fight Narvaez has gone 3-0 (3), including a victory over Japan's Hiroyuki Hisataka. Despite being 39 he does look a "young" 39 in the ring, still capable of throwing sharp and long combinations with blurring speed. As for Orucuta he has gone 2-0 (1) and although his wins have lacked any sort of name value he will still be the younger, bigger, fresher fighter. At 28 he is more than a decade younger than the champion and he will have several inches of height and reach advantage over over Narvaez. Whilst we won't pick a winner for this one we do need to say that this looks like a great fight and if you can watch it, we advise you do. It may be the end of Narvaez or further proof of what the "Hurracan" can do, and just how much he deserves a place in the HOF after he retires, it may be the crowning glory of a fun to watch Mexican warrior or it may be the last stand of an aging great. Fantastic bout, just a shame there are no other bouts of note. (Image courtesy of http://fecorbox.blogspot.co.uk) This weekend wasn't a big boxing on on paper yet it turned out to be a good overall weekend with a surprise or two along the way. The biggest fight, or rather the two biggest fights, happened in the newly refurbished Forum at Inglewood. The most significant of those bouts saw Mexican great Juan Manuel Marquez (56-7-1, 40) look sensational as he easily out pointed Mike Alvarado (34-3, 23) to claim the WBO International Welterweight title.Although both men were down it never looked like Marquez was going to lose against a gun shy Alvarado who looked scored to let his shots go. This bout was being sold not just as a bout between two men in need of a win but as a bout with a big prize on the line, a bout with Manny Pacquiao. As Marquez won, with ease, we're now expecting to see the 5th chapter in their iconinc series of fights and if it's as good as their previous 4 then we're in for yet another modern day classic. The second big fight at the Forum saw a very, very impressive performance by Ukrainian Viktor Postol (26-0, 11) who became the first man to stop Turkey's Selcuk Aydin (26-3, 19). Postol put on a near punch perfect performance before stopping Aydin in the 11th round to become the WBC mandatory challenger at Light Welterweight. Although Postol did have a bit of the "Wladimir Klitschko" look to his boxing he did look genuinely fantastic and really deserves a world title bout following both this result and his victory over Henry Lundy. On a different show in California fans got to see rotund Heavyweight prospect Andy Ruiz Jr (22-0, 16) score an early and impressive stoppage over the usually durable Manuel Quezada (29-9, 18). Quezada was stopped in 2 rounds as he suffered the 3rd loss of his career. On the same show Olympian Oleksandr Gvozdyk (2-0, 1) scored a very good win over the tough and hard hitting Michael Gbenga (19-13, 19) over 6 rounds. This was a fantastic step up for Gvozdyk who seems likely to be fast tracked up the rankings. In Argentina the sensational Omar Andres Narvaez (42-1-2, 23) made history by becoming the first man to record double figure title defences in 2 weight divisions. Narvaez's scored the 10th defence of his WBO Super Flyweight title by stopping the criminally over-matched Antonio Garcia (13-2, 6) in just 4 rounds. Garcia had failed to make weight but that didn't really help him against the "Hurracan" who was too skilled, too fast and too powerful for the hapless challenger. Frustratingly a dream fight between Narvaez and WBC champion Srisaket Sor Rungvisai seems unlikely though oddly the two men are the only 2 real stand out fighters in the division and it's one of the the only bouts that really whets our appetite at Super Flyweight. Welsh boxing fans got the chance to see two former world champions in action, albeit in very different stages of their careers. The first was former WBA Light Welterweight champion Gavin Rees (38-4-1, 18) who waved good bye to the sport with a good victory over over fellow Welshman Gary Buckland (28-4, 9). The bout was a rematch of a contest fought earlier this year, won by Buckland via a controversial decision. Some how the scorecard of Richie Davis favoured Buckland though every one knew Rees won this one with his intelligent movement and very good counter-punching. Whilst Rees waved good bye to boxing and hung up his gloves his compatriot, and former gym mate, Nathan Cleverly (27-1, 13) started a new chapter in his career. Cleverly, who is a former WBO Light Heavyweight champion, made the move up to Cruiserweight and stopped the frankly awful Shawn Corbin (17-5, 12) as he claimed the WBA Inter-Continental Cruiserweight title. We don't like to talk down fighters but who ever allowed this mismatch to be made needs to explain themselves it was an atrocious mismatch and the sort of thing that puts fans off the sport. The main event in Wales saw prospective world title challenger Lee Selby (19-1, 7) out point tough Mexican Romulo Koasicha (21-4, 12) in a bout that was scored widely to Selby on the 3 cards though did actually see the Welshman look less than sensational, despite the commentary. Selby was wobbled at one point and seemed unable to hurt the Mexican who, although limited, may have shown that Selby wasn't nearly ready for a world title fight. On a separate UK card we got the fight of the night as Travis Dickinson (17-1, 7) and Matty Clarkson (12-2-2, 3) beat the snot out of each other. Both men were down multiple times, both looked like they were ready for the taking and both came back from adversity. Sadly however the stoppage, in round 6, was a poor one by the referee who "saved" Clarkson despite both men having been in much worse trouble earlier in the bout. Referee Michael Alexander certainly made more enemies than friends as a result of his decision though both fighters will likely be happy to fight each other further down the line. For fans who missed this one it really was a FOTY contender and well worth hunting down. (Image courtesy of Katsuo Miura/TopRank) It's unfortunate that several big weeks of boxing come to an end this week and that has sadly taken it's toll world wide. This weekend for example only sees a handful of notable bouts and just a sole world title bout. Thankfully however there is enough out there to keep fans entertained even if it's not one of the best weekend's of the year. Although not a world title bout the highest profile contest of the weekend is a mouth watering clash between Manny Pacquiao's nemesis Juan Manuel Marquez (55-7-1, 40) and the often fun to watch Mike Alvarado (34-2, 23). Both men come in to this bout on the back of a loss, with Marquez losing to Timothy Bradley by decision whilst Alvarado was stopped by Ruslan Provodnikov, and both know that a back-to-back loss could be the end for them. At 40 years old old Marquez is on the slide, is the naturally smaller man but the far more skilled and will start as the favourite with his eyes on a fifth encounter with Pacquiao. For Alvarado a victory could open some doors, including a Pacquiao fight, though it could be could be argued that he's picking on smaller men with this fight against Marquez. Whatever your views, we expect this well end up being something a little bit special, as fights often are when you have two men who need a win and two men who have styles which mesh as we expect these will. On the same card as the Marquez/Alvarado clash we get a WBC Light Welterweight final eliminator between unbeaten Ukrainian Viktor Postol (25-0, 10) and Turkish slugger Selcuk Aydin (26-2, 19). Again both men need a high profile victory and with a WBC world title fight up for grabs we expect this could be a genuinely great fight between men, who again, have a point to prove. On a second US card we get a prospect bonanza with a host of emerging Top Rank fighters. These include the unbeaten rotund Heavyweight Andy Ruiz Jr (21-0, 15) who battles the experienced and tough Manuel Quezada (29-8, 18). Quezada has only been stopped once in the last decade and could give Ruiz a very serious test, especially in regards to Ruiz's stamina. Another of the Top Rank prospects on show will be the much hyped Jose Benavidez (19-0, 14) who has failed to live up to his early promise so far. Benevidez isn't likely to be tested by the limited Angel Hernandez (16-15-1, 13) who doesn't hit as hard as his record indicates and has just 2 wins in his last 15 bouts! A third prospect on this card is Jose Carlos Ramirez (9-0, 7) who will be trying to move into double figures when he takes on Jesus Selig (16-2-1, 10). This is a good step up for the 21 year old Ramirez but one he should manage comfortably. The most interesting prospect, for us anyway, is Olympic medallist Oleksandr Gvozdyk (1-0, 1) who takes a serious step up to face Michael Gbenga (19-12, 19). Gbenga is limited, can be beaten and has been beaten regularly in recent contests though never by inexperienced professionals like Gvozdyk. If you go through Gbenga's record you see a who's who of the higher with fighters like Andre Dirrell, Isaac Chilemba and Ilunga Makabu, to put Gvozdyk on that level after just 2 fights would be thoroughly impressive from the much touted Ukrainian. In Argentina we get the only world title fight of the day as the excellent Omar Andres Narvaez (41-1-2, 22) looks to make yet another defence of his WBO Super Flyweight title. Narvaez, the only man at Super Flyweight who think could possibly trouble Srisaket Sor Rungvisai, will be expected to easily take care of the relative unknown Antonio Garcia (13-1, 6) who has never competed even close to this level before. Although Garcia does come in to this contest with some form, having beaten Jonathan Vidal last time out, Narvaez is something else and we'd not be shocked at Narvaez toying with his Mexican challenger, as he did with Hiroyuki Hisataka last year. In the UK fans will be treat 4 interesting contests. The most notable of which is an all-Welsh encounter between Gary Buckland (28-3, 9) and and former world title holder Gavin Rees (37-4-1, 18) with Rees promising to retire after the bout. This particular contest is a rematch of a bout the two men had earlier this year which saw Buckland winning a controversial split decision and many are tipping Rees to go out with a win. Another Welshman on this card is the very promising Lee Selby (18-1, 7) who will be battling against Romulo Koasicha (21-3, 12). Selby will be risking his world rankings here but should see off the Mexican visitor, who fights outside of Mexico for the first time in his career. This could turn out to be a tough contest but we really don't see anything but a Selby victory. A fourth notable Welshman on this show is former WBO Light Heavyweight champion Nathan Cleverly (26-1, 12), who will be fighting for the first time since he was stopped by Sergey Kovalev. Cleverly will be making his Cruiserweight debut and takes on the very poor Sean Corbin (17-4, 12) in what should be an easy introduction to a new weight class, unfortunately though we're not sure if Cleverly really wants to stay in the game and wouldn't be surprised if this turned out to be his final bout. On the same card is one of, if not the, best prospect in Britain, Callum Smith (10-0, 8). Smith has been stopping opponents for fun and his last 8 foes have gone just 15 combined rounds and it'll be a shock if Tobias Webb (14-1-1, 2) can put an end to that streak. In terms of skills Webb is a capable foe at British domestic level but Smith is a very special talent. (Image courtesy of Toprank) A busy Friday night saw a lot of action through out the US with a number of those bouts having a relevancy to us Asian fans. Firstly there was a number of former foes of our fighters. These included Light Heavyweight Cornelius White (21-3, 16) who was dispatched inside a round by the unbeaten Thomas Williams (16-0, 11). The bout between White and Williams saw 3 knockdowns with White being stopped in one of the most dramatic rounds of the year. Unfortunately this bout does make Sergey Kovalev's victory over White look less impressive though we'd argue that really Kovalev did the long last damage to White. Things were much better for former Gennady Golovkin foe Curtis Stevens (26-4, 19) who scored an opening round victory himself. Stevens needed just 46 seconds to see off Poland's Patrick Majewski (21-3, 13), who was down 3 times and seemed to look more like a yo-yo than a boxer. Things were also good, at least in terms of the result, for Rico Ramos (23-3, 12). Ramos, who is best known for knocking out Akifumi Shimoda, dropped Jonathan Arrellano (14-3-2, 3) 3-times though failed to do much to make fans want to see him. Although talented and powerful with his left hook Ramos did too much of nothing and once again left fans wondering what is mentally wrong with him. In bouts less directly relevant to our fighters we saw a few interesting results. In the Light Middleweight division Cornelius "K9" Bundrage (33-5-0-1, 19) managed to secure himself the #1 slot with the IBF courtesy of a victory over Joey Hernandez (23-2-1, 13) who showed up his clear limitations. Light Welterweight sensation Antonio Orozco (19-0, 15) managed to quickly see off the horribly over-matched Miguel Angel Huerta (27-12-1, 18) and Cruiserweight hopeful Thabiso Mchunu (15-1, 10) managed to over-come Nigerian puncher Olanrewaju Durodola (17-2, 16) WBO Super Flyweight champion Omar Andres Narvaez (41-1-2, 21) made his 9th defense of the title on Saturday night as he successfully defended it against Mexican challenger David Carmona (16-2-4, 8). The bout, a poor one from the off, saw Carmona retreating from the first bell and doing all he could to avoid a fight against Narvaez. Sadly this resulted in a contest that saw Narvaez spending much of his time chasing his opponent who seemed almost in awe of the man in front of him. With the win the bullseye on Narvaez's back just got bigger with several opponents all likely eying him up. One of those possible opponents is Mexican Felipe Orucuta (28-2, 23) a man who already gave Narvaez an incredibly tough contest this year. Orucuta is the WBO #1 ranked fighter and a man who will almost certainly feel that he has right to a rematch with Narvaez. If however Narvaez can get another mandatory in before the WBO force a Narvaez/Orucuta rematch it's fair to say that several Asian fighters will be interested. Amongst the highest ranked Asian's from the WBO rankings is the controversial Koki Kameda (32-1, 17) who is currently ranked #2 by the WBO. Koki will likely have the finances to back a fight with Narvaez in Japan if Narvaez is given a good enough offer. Although TYC Sports and filled arenas are paying Narvaez's bills it's fair to say that the Kameda team will throw a lot at Narvaez in an attempt to get Koki his 4th divisional title. Of course Narvaez isn't stupid and may need more than just money thrown his way to travel to Japan but will know that father time is against him and at 38 years old he won't be able to collect big pay days for too much longer. Other Asian alternatives for Narvaez include #3 ranked Arthur Villanueva (24-0, 14) and #4 ranked Mark Anthony Geraldo (29-4-3, 13) both of the Philippines. Neither would bring the money Koki would but both would be more likely to travel to fight Narvaez than Koki and both would likely be easier to deal with the Kameda family, The WBO also rank a number of other Asian fighters such as Teiru Kinoshita, Tepparith Kokietgym, Oleydong Sithsamerchai and Suriyan Sor Rungvisai. Fights with those 4 men would be much more likely in terms of voluntary defenses than Koki though none would bring the money Koki does. Strangely, due to the rules of the WBO, Koki could actually become the mandatory challenger if he wants to request a mandatory position with the WBO who's rules state: (c) A classified boxer may request recognition as Mandatory Challenger in writing to the WBO on forms which contain substantially the provisions of the comply with the Application for Designation as Mandatory Contender contained on the WBO web site. If Koki and team Kameda have read the WBO rules then we may well be seeing Koki Kameda v Omar Narvaez in 2014 as Narvaez's next mandatory defense.
Whilst this coming Saturday isn't a major day for boxing in Asia it is a day that could see several Asian fighters looking at possible future opponents with 3 world title fights taking place, all of which are in divisions where Asian fighters are highly ranked. For Japanese fans in particular, the bout to be give attention to is in Britain where Stuart Hall (15-2-1, 7) battles former Hozumi Hasegawa opponent Vusi Malinga (21-4-1, 12) for the vacant IBF Bantamweight title. Although the winner of this bout is expected to face former champion Jamie McDonnell (23-2-1, 10) next there are several Japanese fighters with good IBF rankings. Whilst McDonnell (#3) with the IBF is the favourite to face the winner it's fair to say that Kohei Oba (35-2-1, 14), the IBF #6 ranked fighter, and Ryusoke Iwasa (16-1, 10), the IBF #12 ranked fighter would both be looking at the IBF title as a possibility. Neither would be favoured against WBC champion Shinsuke Yamanaka, at best Iwasa would be seen as a 50-50 chances with WBO champion Tomoki Kameda and neither would be fancied against WBA "super" champion Anselmo Moreno. The IBF belt might be their easiest route to a world title. Staying with Japanese fans they'll almost certainly have an indirect interesting in what goes on in Spain as IBF Super Bantamweight champion Kiko Martinez (29-4, 21) takes on South African Jeffrey Mathebula (27-4-2, 14). This is Martinez's first defense and it's expected that the winner of this will be defending against Britain's Carl Frampton (17-0, 12) in 2014. Despite the fact Frampton is the first in the queue it still one of the easiest titles at 122lbs to win due to the fact that the other champions include Leo Santa Cruz and the excellent Guillermo Rigondeaux. The winner will be almost certainly be on the radar of both Hidenori Otake (21-3-1, 9), the IBF #6 ranked fighter, and Yasutaka Ishimoto (23-6, 6), the IBF #9 ranked fighter, who will see the winner here as one of their best chances to take a world title at Super Bantamweight. Whilst the Bantamweight and Super Bantamweight title fights are mostly going to get the attention of Japanese fans the final major contest will be one that should get the attention of Thai fans and Filipino's as well as Japanese ones. This bout, in Argentina, sees WBO Super Flyweight super champion Omar Andres Narvaez (40-1-2, 21) defending his title against David Carmona (16-1-4, 8). From the Thai point of view Narvaez is the only man in the division who could be seen as a better fighter than WBC champion Srisaket Sor Rungvisai. We don't expect to see a WBC/WBO unification but that is certainly a bout that we'd love. As well as Srisaket other Thai's who may want to keep an eye on this bout are Suriyan Sor Rungvisai (31-5-1, 13), the WBO #7 ranked fighter, Oleydong Sithsamerchai (51-1-1, 17), the #10 ranked fighter, Denkaosan Kaovichit (62-3-1, 26), the #12 WBO fighter, Tepparith Kokietgym (24-3, 14) the #14 ranked fighter and Noknoi Sitthiprasert (46-4, 27) the #15th ranked fighter. For Filipino fans the bout holds interest as Arthur Villanueva (24-0, 14), the #3 ranked fighter, and Mark Anthony Geraldo (29-4-3, 13), the #4 ranked fighter, could both be viewing up the winner as their next opponent. Neither would be favoured against Narvaez but both have the ability to really test him. As for Japanese fighters both Koki Kameda (32-1, 17), the #2 ranked fighter, and Teiru Kinoshita (19-0-1, 3), #13. For Koki it would make sense to make the most of his high ranking and hope that the WBO will have a vacant WBO title due to the "super" status of Narvaez. With Koki looking for a 4th divisional title this bout really does make a lot of sense for him to be keeping an eye on. With 9 of the top 15 WBO ranked Super Flyweights being from the Orient this bout really should be one that has the eye of every Asian boxing fan out there this coming Saturday. |
InternationalWe know that not every fight involves an Asian fighter but a lot of fights do affect Asian fighter. As a result we've decided to add this new section to Asian boxing where we look at selected International bouts. Archives
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