By Carlos Irusta
“I COME to the fight as the contender, not the champion, and it works very well”, said Omar Narváez in his arrival to Córdoba, Argentina. A couple of days ago, Monday 5, December, at Paris, France, he won by TKO in 11 over Bernard Inom, retaining his WBO flyweight championship.
It was a difficult situation for Narvaez. His last fight was on April 8, a KO in 7 over Brazilian Wellington Vicente, in a 10 rounds bout. Three months ago, he was involved in a traffic accident with his motorcycle: a semi broken bone in his left wrist.
In the fight with Inom, Narvaez faced a second problem, as he again sustained a left hand injury. “It was very painful. Since the fifth round, I was obliged to fight with only one hand”.
True champions have extra douses of stamina and willing. Nothing else matters. In the old times, when fights were up to 15 rounds, we used to say the last three rounds were the “championship rounds”, because it required and extra effort.
A brother of Carlos Monzón died in an accident a couple of days before one of his fights in Europe. “I will go on with the fight, I can’t give the life back to my brother”, said Carlos. And, of course, he won. Jorge Castro was fighting with Hugo Marinangeli at La Pampa, 1990. “I suffered a broken hand, and I was losing the fight. “If the hand is half broken, I will broke it in two, but I need to win by KO”, said Castro and he managed to stop Marinangeli in the last round, obtaining the South American junior middle belt.
Narváez obtained the world belt at Luna Park, on July 13, 2002, defeating in Adonis Rivas in 12 rounds. He defended it against Luis Lazarte, Andrea Sarritzu (twice in Italy, the first was declared a draw), Everardo Morales, Alexander Mahmutov (Paris) and Reginaldo Carvalho Martin: it was his last title bout, on March 6, 2004. Mahmutov was the favorite and one of the most important contenders to Narvaez's title, but he stopped him in 11 rounds at Levallois, Paris, on November 14, 2003. The same round he finished Inom.
Problems with his promoter about purses, Osvaldo Rivero, and a lack of opportunities put Narvaez aside of big bouts. Now, with his victory over Inom (the Frenchman was undefeated in 12 fights and suffered tremendous punishment), Narvaez will look for the WBA fly title, in hands of Venezuelan Lorenzo Parra.
“I was looking for a fight like I had with Inom to demonstrate I am a real world champion”, said Narvaez (20-0-2, 14 KO). He has two kids (Sharon Beatriz, 6 years old y Junio Andrés, 7 months) and resides at Cordoba. He was born at Trelew, Chubut, on July 10, 1975.
The man who is trained by Carlos Tello and managed by Mario Margossian, knows better than ever that he is a real world champion, a two-time champion. Ask Mahmutov or Inom; ask the boxing fan of Paris...
