By Robert Coster

Undefeated bantamweight contender Emmanuel Rodriguez (15-0, 10 KOs) of Puerto Rico is training extra hard in view of what may be the toughest challenge of his young career. On January 13th in Argentina, Rodriguez will battle local legend and former two-division world champion Omar Andres Narvaez (46-2-2, 24 KOs) in an IBF eliminator with the winner to face IBF 118lb champion Lee Haskins.

“I know that Narvaez is the biggest name boxer I will face and it’ll be in front of his fans,” says Rodriguez, “and people say I need a knockout to win, but I’ve got to keep a cool head against a class act like Narvaez. If I just try to bang, he can turn it against me. He’s so clever.”

Rodriguez is ranked #4 by the IBF, #7 by the WBA and #8 by the WBO.

Many boxing analysts consider Narvaez to be a future Hall of Famer. He was WBO flyweight champion from 2002-2009 with 17 title defenses and WBO super flyweight titlist from 2010-2014 with 12 title defenses.

Narvaez’s big drawback may be his age (41) against the 24-year-old Rodriguez. However, the time-defying Argentinian is a wily veteran who uses his southpaw stance to befuddle his younger opponents.

Narvaez is ranked #3 by the IBF and holds the IBF Latino title.