By Albert Benson
After watching Nonito Donaire struggle with a man much smaller than him who looked like he could be someones short grandfather — it just secured my opinion of Floyd Mayweather Jr. as the pound for pound most skilled boxer in the world.
Nonito Donaire struggled with a 36-year-old undersized Omar Narvaez and couldn’t even break his guard. Nonito didn’t even go to the body much where Omar was open to be hit all night he just kept going at Omar’s head and loading up on punches. Donaire seemed too cautious of the little fella, all he had to do was throw 30 straight punches and over power him, but he was too scared to get hit so he only threw 3 punch combos and backed out. Omar had no trouble figuring out Nonito’s rhythm because he threw the same 3 punch combos, if a guy has a tight guard and he is tiny compared to you just over power them and force them to throw a punch or else the ref will stop it.
The one dimensional Manny Pacquiao fought a fighter with an even tighter shelled up defense in Joshua Clottey, but at least he mixed up his body and head attack unlike Donaire who just kept going to the head even though the few right hands he threw at Narvaez body were landing.
Another top pound for pound fighter Sergio Martinez struggled with Darren Barker who also used a high guard but actually threw punches, in the end Sergio was able to adjust and knockout Barker with a overhand punch.
I was very disappointed in Nonito Donaire’s performance, I guess you could say I was one of the people that bought into his hype. If a technically flawed fighter like Manny Pacquiao can do a better job of mixing up his punches than you, it says a lot. Nonito didn’t look like the person who we thought had this amazing ring IQ — he had no answers for little Narvaez.
Of the top guys, Floyd Mayweather is the best. He is head and shoulders above Manny Pacquiao, Sergio Martinez and Nonito Donaire. If you give Floyd Mayweather Jr. a defensive shelled fighter like Joshua Clottey, Darren Barker or Omar Narvaez he would take his time to figure them out and then knock them out.
Sergio Martinez struggled with Darren Barker but that was because the defensive Barker actually threw punches back. In my eyes, Sergio Martinez is number two right behind Floyd Mayweather, and I hate saying this but I would put Manny Pacquiao at number three. Pacquiao doesn’t have the technical skills of Nonito, Sergio or Floyd, but at least he wins or tries to win with his limited skill-set and has wins over some name guys even though they are washed up. Freddie Roach was actually right about Nonito — all he has is that left hook counter and not much punch variety. Roach was also right when he said someone who knows how to avoid Nonito’s left hook will do well against him, and Omar Narvaez did just that and made Donaire look less than spectacular. Nonito fights tiny guys and when I say tiny they are really small compared to him and Omar Narvaez is probably one of the smallest guys he ever faced and had a height and weight advantage over him but still he couldn’t hurt or stop this guy.
Next up, Manny Pacquiao fights Juan Manuel Marquez in November and I see Pacquiao struggling again because he isn’t an intelligent fighter. After seeing Nonito Donaire, Sergio Martinez, and Manny Pacquiao struggle against guys with the same shell defense, we must recognize just how great Floyd Mayweather is and give him his props because Floyd has faced all styles and beat them all convincingly.
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