Omar Narvaez not solely to blame

Nonito Donaire Jr. retained his twin world bantamweight boxing crowns and, in the process, added a name to winning in boxing’s rich lexicon.
If not by knockout, world crowns are won either by unanimous decision, majority decision, split decision, popular or impertinent decision, etc.
Donaire, in partnership with Omar Narvaez of Argentina, lent an unsavory extra label to victory by mere points.
Donaire, 28, won via unanimous boredom at The Theatre of Madison Square Garden on Sunday.
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“I’m deeply disappointed and I would like to apologize to the fans,” Donaire swore after the one-sided fight.
He claimed the dull, tasteless bout resulted from the vehement refusal of the hitherto unbeaten Argentine to engage and fight.
Here at home, the popular prefight bet was Narvaez, the eventual loser, would be lucky to survive past the sixth round.
However, by the end of the final round, the biggest losers were the expectant fans, if not boxing itself.
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There was an outcry of “Panis!” the crude street clout against being served a spoiled main dish.
In truth, Donaire did appear as though he was set to hit the jackpot and give fans their money’s worth.
He connected with a patented left uppercut, followed by a stiff right-left combo to the head.
The blitz visibly wobbled Narvaez.
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This would, however, be the sharpest, liveliest portion of the Donaire performance.
Their idol, groaned fans out there at the Mandaluyong City wet market, was, on the whole, a no-show.
If Donaire appeared, it was only in a breeze for that cameo role in the fourth.
Elsewhere the morning after, the prevailing displeasure was about being cheated, short-changed.
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Anyway, this would not please Donaire, but it has got to be told.
Although he was not the main party to the utter dullness, Donaire was not exactly blameless.
He himself lent dumb ingredients to the spoiled boxing dish.
“Nasaktan kaya sobra ingat na rin (He got hurt, he himself had to box cautiously),” explained boxing great Gerry Peñalosa after completing a graceful layup shot during a pickup game in Kapitana Lily de la Cruz’s much-admired covered court in Vergara, Mandaluyong, the afternoon of the Donaire victory.
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A winning knockout punch could only be as big as a boxer’s fighting heart?
It would be terribly unfair to say his guts had deserted Donaire even for a moment in the entire bout.
But what did not escape the eyes of seasoned ringsiders were several punches that looped, instead of spear straight, each time Donaire would take half a step back before throwing them.
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As reported by the Inquirer’s Marc Anthony Reyes, who did an excellent on-the-spot job, Donaire would later complain of leg cramps, obviously the reason his corner was overheard advising him to keep his distance, to be doubly cautious.
Summing up street sentiments, there’s this call for Donaire, he with the matador flair inside the ring, to acquire and add deeper dimensions to his game.
Reason: This is the only way he could be fully ready to stand up to bigger, more difficult bulls in the immediate future.