Donaire bids for stardom against Narvaez today

Boxing finally makes its return to “the worlds most famous arena” when Filipino sensation Nonito Donaire faces tough Omar Narvaez at the Madison Square Garden this Saturday night (Sunday morning in Manila).

Donaire is the complete package, a consensus top-five pound-for-pound fighter with phenomenal skills, size, speed and power.

Donaire’s promoter Top Rank is excited to showcase their rising stars’ talents to the east coast fans at the Mecca of Boxing.

“ There are many Filipinos that live in the New York metropolitan area, and besides, there are tremendous boxing fans here of every ethnic group,” said Bob Arum at Thursday’s final presser in New York.

“So it’s really a pleasure to bring a young man like this to the Big Apple where he can be watched by boxing fans of all persuasions. There is nothing like seeing a great fighter up-close, personal and in the ring rather than just on television.”

During yesterday’s official weight-in, Donaire came in at 116.25lb while challenger Narvaez stepped in at 117lb.

Donaire (26-1, 18 KOs) enters this fight on a nine year, 25-bout win streak, which includes an IBF flyweight knockout victory over Vic Darchinyan, a fourth round knockout of Wladimir Sidorenko, and in his last fight, a spectacular 2nd round knockout of then-bantamweight champion Fernando Montiel.

The “Filipino Flash” has closed the show with a knockout in 10 out of his last 11 fights.

“I’m willing to go to war, he’s [Narvaez] willing to go to war. It’s just going to be exciting. I’m just very excited to get this opportunity to fight with a great champion. It fills me up when I fight great fighters like Narvaez and Montiel,” said Donaire.

Argentina’s Narvaez (35-0-2, 23 KOs) is a former Olympian and a former WBO flyweight champion. Narvaez held a flyweight belt from 2002 until 2009 before vacating his belt to move up in weight. In May 2010, he won the WBO junior bantamweight title and has since made three defenses in convincing fashion.

“This is a really good opportunity to show the world my boxing skills”, said Narvaez.  “I’m in really good shape for this fight because I know about the qualities of Nonito Donaire. This my opportunity to become champion for the 3rd time.”

Although largely unknown in the States, Narvaez is, on paper, a quality opponent. The 35-year old possesses a solid defense, and moves well and while he may not be a big puncher, the Argentine southpaw throws punches at odd angles, which has given his recent opponents fits. He is however small at 5’3 and was already considered short at flyweight. Also, at age 36 Narvaez is in the twilight of his career especially for the smaller weight divisions, while Donaire is just reaching his peak at 28. /philboxing.com with reports from correspondent Rene Bonsubre