Emanuel Navarrete defends his WBO super featherweight title against Oscar Valdez in a real crossroads rematch in the USA.
Top Rank is promoting Navarrete vs Valdez 2, and you can watch the action live on Sky Sports in the UK and ESPN+ in the US.
The two met with Navarrete in August last year deftly defends his belt on the cardsbut it was a brutal showdown in which Valdez had his moments.
Despite being a world champion (38-2-1, 31 KOs), Navarrete has not won in his last two contests. “Vaquero” reigned as a three-weight world champion, most recently as the WBO super featherweight world champion, but after defeating Valdez he was held to a draw by the clumsy Robson Conceicao in November last year after knocking the Brazilian down twice.
A move to lightweight followed, where Navarrete attempted to dominate at a fourth weight, but succeeded beaten by Denys Berinchyk in San Diego by a split decision.
He falls back again for this rematch, and one might suspect that Valdez (32-2, 24 KOs) will have to rely on Navarrete to improve and improve to win this rematch.
Valdez had a strong start to his career with numerous knockout victories, but it all came crashing down for him in 2022 when he was left behind and outclassed by Shakur Stevenson while attempting to add the WBC super featherweight title to his WBO belt.
He lost to Navarrete two fights later, but Valdez looked back to near his best last time out, when he dominated Liam Wilson for a sixth-round stoppage in March to claim the interim WBO belt.
Prediction: Despite a good win last time out, it's hard to imagine Valdez making the necessary adjustments to win this rematch. I think Navarrete can keep his points.
We got our first duel of the week on
| DECEMBER 7 |
— Top Boxing (@trboxing)
| DECEMBER 7 |Another rematch is paramount.
In December 2023, Rafael Espinoza (25-0, 21 KOs) defeated Robeisy Ramirez (14-2, 9 KOs) via majority decision to capture the Cuban's WBO featherweight title, and the two are fighting it back this weekend.
Two-time Olympic champion Ramirez suffered a shocking loss on his professional debut, but later avenged the defeat and won the world title with a convincing points win over Isaac Dogboe in April last year.
He made a defense before losing to Espinoza in a contest where both were on the line, but Ramirez going down in the final round cost him a draw. Since then, both have stopped once, with Espinoza defeating Sergio Cherino in four rounds and Ramirez stopping Brandon Leon in seven rounds, both in June.
Prediction: Ramirez will want to make up for his mistakes from the original fight, and I believe he can. I think he can win back his old belt with a close decision.
The tide has turned.
— Top Boxing (@trboxing)
Full undercard preview
In ten rounds, Lindolfo Delgado (21-0, 15 KOs) can knock Jackson Marinez (22-3, 10 KOs) out of the fight before the final bell rings at super lightweight and welterweight Giovanni Santillan (32-1, 17 KOs). . can bounce back from his first loss to Brian Norman Jr. in his last outing by stopping Fredrick Lawson (30-5, 22 KOs).
In eight rounds, hard-hitting heavyweight Richard Torrez Jr. (11-0, 10 KOs) is able to win early again, this time against Isaac Munoz Gutierrez (18-1-1, 15 KOs) and Demler Zamora (14-0). , 9 KOs) can do the same in his super featherweight meeting with Roman Ruben Reynoso (22-5-2, 10 KOs).
The way lets his opponents hold on for dear life
— Top Boxing (@trboxing)
| DECEMBER 7 | &
Albert Gonzalez (11-0, 7 KOs) should also get past Gerardo Antonio Perez (12-6-1, 3 KOs) in the super featherweight division.
In the six rounds, Art Barrera Jr (6-0, KO4) may also need the distance to prevail against Juan Carlos Campos Medina (4-1, KO3) at welterweight and against Steven Navarro (4-0, KO3) at super flyweight ) can stop Gabriel Bernardi Cruz (7-1, KO3).
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