LIVE: Emanuel Navarrete vs. Joet Gonzalez ton FITE & ESPN+

By Boxing News - 10/12/2021 - Comments

By Jeff Aronow: WBO featherweight champion Emanuel ‘Vaquero’ Navarrete will be defending his title this Friday, October 15th, against his #1 contender Joet Gonzalez on ESPN+ at the Pechanga Arena, in San Diego, California.  The fight will also be shown on FITE TV in the UK.

Navarrete (34-1, 29 KOs) has the chance to show what he can do against a fighter that was schooled by Shakur two years ago in October 2019.

Image: LIVE: Emanuel Navarrete vs. Joet Gonzalez ton FITE & ESPN+

Shakur effortlessly defeated Joet (24-1, 14 KOs) by a lopsided 12 round unanimous decision. That was so one-sided in favor of Shakur that it was boring to watch because Gonzalez could not compete with him.

Joet Gonzalez bounced back from his loss to Stevenson to defeat Miguel Marriaga by a 10 round unanimous decision 13 months ago in September 2020.

Coming off a long one-year layoff to challenge Navarrete for his WBO 136-lb title isn’t the ideal situation for Joet, the other contenders waiting for a crack at the belt, and the fans.

Given that Shakur recently trounced Joet, you’d like to have seen him earn a title shot instead of backing into one.

Image: LIVE: Emanuel Navarrete vs. Joet Gonzalez ton FITE & ESPN+

For some boxing fans, they’re excited about seeing Navarrete defend against the 28-year-old Joet, but this isn’t the guy that most people want to see Emanuel fight.

Fans want to see Navarrete take on Shakur Stevenson, Gary Russell Jr, Rey Vargas, Leo Santa Cruz, Kid Galahad, Leigh Wood, and Mark Magsayo. Fighting Joet is more anticlimatic given his recent loss to Shakur Stevenson.

In Navarrete’s last fight, he defeated Christopher Diaz by a 12th round knockout last April. Diaz did an excellent job of hanging in there until the 12th round.

Emanuel Navarrete vs. Joet Gonzalez undercard:

  • Giovani Santilla vs. Angel Ruiz
  • Javier Martinez vs. Darryl Jones
  • Lindolfo vs. Juan Garcia Mendez
  • Henry Lebron vs. Manuel Rey Rojas
  • Delmonte Randle vs. Antonio Mireles
  • Esquiva Falcao vs. Patrick Wojcicki

Navarrete, 26, will be looking to pick up his 30th consecutive victory since losing to Daniel Argueta by a four round unanimous decision earlier in his career in 2012.

That’s a guy that Navarrete would destroy now if the two fought, but obviously, the two are on opposite sides of the spectrum now, talent-wise. Argueta has done nothing with his career since his victory over a then 5-0 Navarrete in 2012.

Navarrete has won over many boxing fans in the last three years since his first of two victories over former WBO super bantamweight champion Isaac Dogboe in December 2018.

After winning the WBO 122-lb title, Navarrete defended it successfully five times before vacating it last year in 2020 to move up to 126.

A year ago, Navarrete captured the WBO featherweight title with a close 12 round unanimous decision over the highly skilled Ruben Villa in October 2020.

After winning the WBO 126-lb belt, Navarrete defended it successfully against the Christopher mentioned above Diaz last April.

Once Navarrete takes care of Joet Gonzalez, it would be great if Top Rank could match him against one of the other 126-lb champions. If not, Shakur Stevenson would be an excellent option for Navarrete.