By Matt Lieberman: Emanuel Navarrete weighed in at 127 pounds at Friday’s weigh-in for his 10-round headliner fight at featherweight against Uriel Lopez this Saturday night.
(Photo Credit: Zanfer Promotions)
While Navarrete vs. Lopez may not be a competitive fight on paper, it’ll still be interesting to watch. The 25-year-old ‘Vaquero’ Navarrete has a non-stop punching style that is entertaining, and he’s big puncher as well.
It’s a shame that Top Rank couldn’t get a better opponent for the 5’7″ Navarrete to fight on Saturday, as it would have been interesting to see him face a good 126-pounder. Fans would like to see Navarrete fight Andrew Cancio, Tevin Farmer, Miguel Roman. Those guys are too good for Navarrete to fight behind closed doors.
Top Rank is hoping to turn Navarrete into a star, but he’s going to need to move up to featherweight at the very least to increase his popularity.
The 122-pound weight division isn’t popular with casual boxing fans in the U.S.
Navarrete vs. Lopez on ESPN at 11:00 pm. ET
The Navarrete-Lopez card is taking place at the TV Azteca Studios (Mexico City, and will be shown on ESPN & ESPN Deportes. Boxing action kicks off at 11:00 p.m. ET / 8:00 p.m. PT.
Since beating WBO 122-lb champion Isaac Dogboe in an upset win in December 2018, Navarrete has been on a tear, defending his title five times and looking sensational. Navarrete beat Dogboe by a 12th round knockout in their rematch in May 2019, and it’s been really easy for Navarrete since then in halting his last four opponents after that.
Big for the 122-pound weight class, Navarrete has run two good options in Murodjon Akhmadaliev and Rey Vargas. However, it doesn’t look like Top Rank will be able to make either of those fights. That’s too bad because there would be a lot of interest from boxing fans in seeing Navarrete take on Vargas r Akhmadaliev.
Lopez (13-13-1, 6 KOs) also weighed in at 127 lbs, and he’s going to have a lot of problems trying to stay upright under the firepower from Emanuel.
Navarrete (31-1, 27 KOs) won’t have his WBO super bantamweight title on the line for this fight against journeymen Lopez on Saturday. Lopez is strictly a stay-busy type of match-up for Navarrete.
Navarrete trying out the 126-lb division
By Navarrete getting his feet wet at 126, it helps him prepare to move up and fight for the WBO featherweight title if current champion Shakur Stevenson vacates the belt when he leaves the division.
Stevenson announced this week that he’s going to be campaigning at 130 now, and that means his WBO 126-lb division will fall vacant. A fight between Navarrete and Stevenson would be exciting to watch, but it’s not one that has much hope of happening.
Top Rank wants to build both fighters into stars, and they can’t do that if they match them up against each other. One guy would move forward while the other would be trying to pick up the broken pieces o come back from the defeat.
Uriel Lopez with a three-fight losing streak
Lopez comes into the fight on Saturday with a three-fight losing streak and not many positives from those matches. The only bright ray of light from those defeats for the 25-year-old Lopez is he wasn’t knocked out.
He stayed in there and lost decisions to these fighters: Alan Salazar, Cristian Ramon Cortes Gonzalez, and Jeo Santisima. Navarrete beat Santisima by an 11th round knockout last February.
Other weights on the card:
- Carlos Ornelas 127 lbs vs. Edwin Palomares 126 lbs
- Sergio Sanchez 126 lbs vs. Gustavo Alan Pina 126 lbs
- Ivan Armando Garcia 113 lbs vs. Roberto Palomares 113 lbs
- Jessica Nery Plata 112 lbs vs. Edith de Jesus Flores 112 lbs
