Donaire (26-1, 18 KOs) faces Omar “El Huracán” Narvaez (35-0-2, 23 KOs) Saturday at Madison Square Garden (Sunday in Manila) in his first fight since he obliterated Fernando Montiel in February.
Narvaez is THE RING’s No. 1-rated junior bantamweight. The savvy southpaw was a decorated amateur who won two Pan-Am gold medals and represented Argentina in two Olympic Games. As a pro, he won and defended the WBO flyweight title 16 times, defeating future beltholders Carlos Tamara, Brahim Asloum and Luis Lazarte en route to setting a division record. And yet, the 36-year-old veteran is not only a huge underdog to Donaire, he isn’t even expected to last half the fight. That’s how spectacular the 28-year-old former flyweight titleholder looked in his first two bantamweight bouts. The Filipino switch-hitter bludgeoned sturdy veteran Wladimir Sidorenko to a fourth-round KO last December and then nearly decapitated respected three-division titleholder Fernando Montiel en route to a second-round TKO that earned him the WBO and WBC titles in February. Donaire, THE RING’s No. 1 bantamweight, is also No. 4 in the magazine’s pound-for-pound rankings. Many fans view him as the Heir Apparent to P4P King and countryman Manny Pacquiao. If this is true, he’ll live up to his lofty expectations on Saturday. On the undercard, “Mikey” Garcia (26-0, 22 KOs) has recently made the transition from touted prospect to bona-fide contender. He faces durable and capable journeyman Juan Carlos Martinez (19-7-1, 7 KOs), who is coming off an eight-round decision victory over former title challenger Bernabe Concepcion, in a stay busy fight as he positions himself for a title shot some time during the first half of next year.
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