By John F. McKenna (McJack): Despite last Saturday nights snooze fest in which WBO and WBA bantamweight champion Nonito “The Filipino Flash” Donaire (26-1, 18 KO’s) shut out super flyweight champion Omar “El Huracan” Narvaez (35-1-2, 19 KO’s) many boxing analysts still believe that Donaire is a rising superstar in boxing.

Sports Illustrated’s Chris Mannix was quoted in reference to Donaire saying:

“Donaire has 18 knockouts in 27 professional fights, and there is no indication that a rise in weights will take anything off the cannons he has on his shoulders. With a thick arsenal and a killer instinct that many Robert Garcia trained fighters seem to have Donaire should have the pop to put fighters down in whatever weight class.

Mannix joins the ranks of boxing analysts who are not willing to jump on the bandwagon given that the Donaire – Narvaez fight was a real yawner. It was clear going into the middle rounds that there was nothing Donaire could do to get Narvaez to engage him in the fight.

After Omar was stung in the 3rd round you got the sense that he realized that he could not cope with the youthful, more powerful and faster Donaire. From that point on Narvaez gave up any hope of winning and fell into survival mode, very similar to what Shane Mosley did against Manny Pacquiao last May.

Boxing fans at Madison Square Garden where Donaire was fighting for the first time became increasingly frustrated as round after round the fight followed the same pattern of Nonito trying everything in an effort to get Narvaez to be a participant in the fight. But it was to no avail as Omar used his considerable defensive skills to evade Nonito’s heavy artillery.

In the latter stages of the bout the crowd erupted in a chorus of boos and began to chant “this is b— s—!” It was clear however that the fans were booing Narvaez and not Donaire.

Chris Mannix was correct when he stated in his interview that Donaire should have no problem moving up in weight class.

At 5’7” Nonito is tall enough to handle the added weight and with his size attempting to continue to go down to bantamweight would be a detriment to his career. Time will tell whether or not Donaire is successful in his quest for pugilistic stardom.