Argentinian veteran Omar Andres Narvaez (38-1-2, 20) may be fast heading to his 38th birthday but the skilled and slippery fighter is still rated by many as the premier Super Flyweight on the planet. The WBO champion will need to show why he is so highly regard this coming weekend as he takes on the very dangerous Mexican Felipe Orucuta (27-1, 23), a younger, stronger and bigger fighter.
The once beaten Narvaez, a 2-time Olympian, has been one of the hardcore boxing fans favourite boxers over the past decade or so. He's proven to be hugely skilled and intelligent fighter who has been able to thrive at the top for years thanks to his fast hands and elusiveness which has seen him making a trademark out of slipping opponents shots, landing a flurry then getting away.
Although clearly slowing as he nears his 40th birthday Narvaez is still surprisingly fast and in recent bouts he has started to show a spitefulness, especially in his stoppage of Johnny Garcia late last year. Saying that however Narvaez was never a powerful fighter (despite the ridiculous comments of both Steve Bunce and Steve Lillis back in 2011 on Boxnation) and that was also the case when he was carving out his career at Flyweight, now at Super Flyweight his power is even less significant.
With retirement looming it's hard to really say what Narvaez has left, though we've been saying that for the past few years and he's kept pushing challengers back such as Victor Zaleta, Cesar Seda, William Urina and Jose Cabrera, rarely losing a round in the fights. In all honesty, the Donaire fight aside, Narvaez has really been forced to do things he doesn't want to do in the ring, it's fair to say however that Orucuta will be looking to change that.
Aged 27, Orucuta is a much younger fighter with some 9 years of youth on his side as well as a stunning 5" in height and a notable physical advantage with longer arms and a thicker body. It's likely that the Mexican could well be a division, if not 2, bigger than Narvaez in the ring.
Orucuta debuted back in 2006 and after winning his first 18 fights he suffered his sole professional loss to Daniel Rosas, a close decision. Since the loss to Rosas, Orucuta has gone 9-0 (9) and scored notable victories over Julio David Roque Ler, Roberto Castaneda Julio Cesar Miranda and Fernando Lumacad. It's the manner of those victories that have seen many tipping Orucuta here as he's been blasting out experienced and talented opponents time and time again.
With age, size, power and energy on his side Orucuta should well be a betting favourite though the skill, experience and edge do all favour Narvaez, as does the fact that the Argentinian fighter will be at home in front of his loyal fans whilst Orucuta will be fighting his first fight outside of his native Mexico. The fact that Orucuta has never fought outside of Mexico will be a major disadvantage here and could well be what swings the fight in the way of Narvaez.
This is seen by the bookies as a genuine toss up fight, we don't get many of those in this sport. I'm actually very much split here but always find it hard to pick against Narvaez who could make Orucuta look silly if he's as sharp as he once was.
Prediction-Narvaez UD12 (but very competitively)
No comments:
Post a Comment