by David P. Greisman
Carlos Cuadras had been speaking in Spanish until the name of Omar Narvaez was brought up.
“He’s a old man,” Cuadras said in English. “He’s finished. He’s a old man.”
Cuadras had just scored a sixth-round technical knockout of Marvin Mabait, defending his world title at 115 pounds that he’d won earlier in the year. It was his second bout as titleholder since he’d won a cut-shortened technical decision over previous titleholder Srisaket Sor Rungvisai in May. His first defense was in September, a cut-shortened technical draw with Jose Salgado.
Narvaez is a longtime titleholder at junior bantamweight, where he won a belt in May 2010 and has made 11 successful defenses, albeit against largely lower-level opposition. He is 39 years old and deep into a career that also included a long run with a world title at 112 pounds. The only loss on his 43-1-2 (23 KOs) record came when he jumped up to 118 to challenge Nonito Donaire in 2011.
That doesn’t matter to Cuadras, a 26-year-old from Mexico City. He sees one possible outcome for Narvaez if they were to fight.
“I will retire him,” Cuadras said. “If he wants.”
Pick up a copy of David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsamazon or internationally at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsworldwide . Send questions/comments via email at fightingwords1@gmail.com
