Donaire treating bout vs Narvaez as ‘coming out party’

MANILA, Philippines—If there’s doubt Nonito Donaire Jr. is treating his fight against Omar Narvaez as a “coming out party,” the Filipino Flash erased it with a single tweet Thursday.

The Filipino boxer, rated No. 4 in most pound-for-pound lists, tweeted: “Pre-fight medical exam over…now onto something important…my haircut.”

But Donaire didn’t want to sound like he’s taking the 36-year-old Argentine lightly. At the end of his tweet, he said “and then yes, yes, training after.”

The 28-year-old Donaire is climbing back to the ring for the first time in eight months when he stakes his WBA and WBO bantamweight belts on Oct. 22 at the WaMu Theater of the Madison Square Garden in New York City.

He had earlier stated that this is going to be his last fight at 118 pounds.

Donaire will be the first Filipino since the great Gabriel “Flash” Elorde to fight in what has been described as the “mecca of boxing,” though the 12-round bout will be not be in the main arena of the fabled venue.

According to reports, Donaire is eyeing super bantamweight titlists Jorge Arce of Mexico and Toshiaki Nishioka of Japan after his fight against Narvaez, who is seeing action in the United States for the first time. Also a probable foe is Cuban Olympic champion and former featherweight king Yoriorkis Gamboa.

For the Narvaez fight, though, Donaire launched a search for somebody to sing the national anthem on fight night. The winner will be announced when he conducts his open workout on Oct. 15 at Gleason Gym in Brooklyn. He also pledged to wear pink gloves in support of breast cancer awareness drive.

Donaire, already a three-division champ, last fought on Feb. 19 when he knocked out Fernando Montiel in the second round for the twin bantam belts at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.