This coming weekend sees Ring, Linear and WBC Flyweight champion Toshiyuki Igarashi (16-1-1, 10) making the fist defense of his titles as he faces little known Argentinian Nestor Daniel Narvaes (19-0-2-1, 9). Despite being unbeaten Narvaes is a hugely underwhelming opponent for a Linear title bout such as this, however could he spring an upset?
Although most boxing fans won't really know who Igarashi is, the Japanese fighter is a well regarded fighter who ran up an impressive amateur record of 77-18 and competed at both the 2004 Olympic games and the 2005 World Amateur Championships.
Aged 28 Igarashi is seen as one of the rising stars of Japanese boxing and despite having been a professional since 2006 it's only been in the last year or so that he's really made any sort of an impact on the world stage. In fact Igarashi's rise to success seems to have arisen from his short reign as the Japanese Flyweight champion in early 2011, a title he would defend just once.
After defending the Japanese title Igarashi was swiftly pushed up the WBC rankings and given a title eliminator against highly rated Mexican Wilbert Uicab. Igarashi managed to claim a narrow decision victory over Uicab to earn his shot at the WBC Champion, and after Sonny Boy Jaro defeated Pongsaklek Wonjongkam for the title the match up was made for Igarashi to face Jaro.
Igarashi made the most of his opportunity against Jaro and claimed a narrow decision to win the titles in an enthralling battle between two tough men. Although Igarashi was tagged numerous times he never seemed that hurt as he landed his own flush shots on Jaro in a genuinely fun to watch fight and one that told us a lot about Igarashi's heart as well as his skills. He appeared to be a powerful punching, tough fighter who had very solid boxing skills even if he lacked a massive work-rate, however he still looked "fresh" in rounds 11 and 12 which would suggest he probably could go up a gear if he felt he needed to.
Whilst we might not know a huge amount about Igarashi we certainly know more about him than we know about Nestor Daniel Narvaes a fighter who has yet to face anyone with a pulse. Despite being unbeaten Narvaes hasn't faced anyone to really gauge him against and as a result it's hard to really tell how good, how powerful and how durable he actually is.
From the footage I have seen of Narvaes he appears to be crude and very open. He does have some hurtful body shots though against the likes of Marcelo Antonio Gomez it's hard to really see just how hard he actually hits. Despite this it's worth noting that Narvaes has fought as high as Super Bantamweight, perhaps suggesting that he will be the naturally bigger man against Igarashi.
So far the best win on Narvaes' record has come against Luis Singo, a veteran Ecuador and this really says everything about this match up. One man has beaten Jaro, and Uicab the other has beaten nobody of worthy, with this is mind I have to go with Igarashi to score the victory, almost certainly by stoppage. When Igarashi lands a solid shot I expect Narvaes to crumble.
Prediction-Igarashi TKO4
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