By Rey Danseco
REXON “Ang Pison” Flores wants to prove that Omar Narvaez’s victory over the weekend in their World Boxing Organization (WBO) flyweight title fight was a fluke.
Flores’ manager Gabriel “Bebot” Elorde Jr. agrees with his boxer, making him offer Narvaez to put the title once again against Flores.
Elorde made a formal offer early Sunday (Monday in the Philippines) to his counterpart Osvaldo Rivera for a rematch, and this time he wants to stage the bout in Flores’ territory in Manila on October 28.
Rivera hasn’t turned down or agreed to Elorde’s proposal. Elorde is expecting a reply before they leave Cordoba, Argentina for another 48-hour flight going back to Manila.
Team Flores, along with trainers Erbito Salavarria and Ruel Morata will course through Buenos Aires, New Zealand, Sydney in Australia before reaching Manila around 7:30 pm on Thursday.
“They (Narvaez’s manager) will reply on Tuesday before I leave Argentina for Australia,” said Elorde.
Elorde called the lopsided verdict of the three judges in favor of Narvaez a “hometown decision”. He believed Flores landed more punches and the aggressor while the Argentinean hero was contended on moving away as he knew Referee Sam Viruet deducted two points from Flores in the fourth for low blows and in the 7th for headbutts.
Elorde never revealed the amount he tendered, but he described it “acceptable” for Argentina’s former celebrated representative in two Olympics and two World Championships.
“In the rematch, we’ll see who the real winner is. Rexon wasn’t get hurt while Narvaez’s nose bled from a hard punch in round six and he contended on running around the ring,” said Elorde, son of Flash Elorde, a hall of famer super featherweight champ in 1960s. “But if you’ll look at the scorecards, I wonder how Narvaez’s ahead by more than ten points,” said Elorde.
Judges Daniel Fucs and Alejandro Lopez had it 119-109 while Omar Quijada saw it 120-108 all in favor of Narvaez, who won his previous seven bouts all by stoppage.
The 23-year-old Filipino became Narvaez’s first opponent in his last eight fights to go the distance since the Argentinean star subdued his fifth challenger Alexander Mahmutov of Russia in round 11 on November 14, 2003 in Levallois, France.
“Rexon remained standing and still ready to fight another 12 rounds, proving he deserved for the (mandatory) title shot. I believe he deserves to win,” said Elorde, who added that he wants to rebroadcast the fight on tape in national television back home.
The fight happened before 9,000 fans at the historic venue and telecasted by sports station in Argentina, South America and United States via satellite.
Narvaez, 31, started cautiously before stepping up the attack. From the ninth round, Narvaez began to connect frequently. In the final round, he delivered with the right and left hand to the head. Flores managed to land a few powerful blows early, and Narvaez was bleeding from the nose by the sixth round.
Narvaez captured the flyweight crown from Nicaragua’s Adonis Rivas in 2002. He improved his record to 22-0-2 with 15 knockouts. Flores dropped to 16-3-4, 8 KOs.
