Narvaez, Due To Money, May Withdraw From Rodriguez Eliminator

By Miguel Rivera

There are now issues with the IBF final eliminator between the Puerto Rico's Emmanuel "Manny" Rodriguez and Argentine veteran Omar Narvaez.

The fight was agreed upon last year and scheduled to take place on the 13th of January. The fight was postponed due to an issue with Argentinean TV and initially rescheduled to the date of March 4, as part of the Keith Thurman-Danny Garcia card at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. But then it was reportedly going to land on March 11, as part of an undercard to different Premier Boxing Champions card.

Narvaez is apparently upset with the amount of money he would receive for the contest.

According to Narvaez, based on all of the financial aspects of the contest, he would walk away with next to nothing from fighting Rodriguez.

"I can not guarantee you that I will go [to the United States to fight Rodriguez] despite the commitment being signed. If I do not go, I will be frozen in the rankings, and that's bad for me at this age (41 years). It's very complicated and I'm disappointed," Narvaez told the FM radio station Tiempo in Argentina.

"Television needed a Saturday for such an important title, which was to be the IBF interim-world title. It was not a date that could be solved quickly. We lost those 90 days of the contract and the Puerto Ricans, playing with their advantage, quickly revived the fight and began to insert conditions. The event was already expensive and this whole situation brought on more expenses. From there comes the fight in New York, where we have to go to fight under their conditions. The numbers are too low, to the point where half of it is already gone."

If Narváez gives up the eliminator with Rodriguez, then the IBF could choose that Rodrigo Guerrero of Mexico is the substitute to replace him