By Dan Ambrose: Emanuel Navarrete came in at the super featherweight limit at 130 lbs, and his opponent Oscar Valdez weighed in at 129.8 pounds on Friday at their weigh-in for Saturday night’s twelve round headliner at the Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona.
Valdez will likely target Navarrete’s soft-looking midsection, as looks like he’s been eating a lot of high-calorie foods since his last fight and looks like a fat, skinny person.
WBO super featherweight champion Navarrete (37-1, 31 KOs) will be taking by far the toughest test of his decade-long career, going up against the former two-division world champion Valdez (31-1, 23 KOs).
Saturday night’s Navarrete vs. Valdez event will begin at 10:00 p.m. ET/7:00 p.m. PT. on ESPN, ESPN Deportes, and ESPN+.
Considering the way Navarrete has been matched for the last 13 years, there’s a very real possibility that he’s going to be humiliated by Vargas and beaten up like Miguel Berchelt was in 2021.
Navarrete almost lost his last fight against little-known Liam Wilson, and he would have been beaten by a referee that didn’t fall for his spitting-out-the-mouthpiece tactic after he was knocked down.
Valdez is rebuilding after his loss to Shakur Stevenson last year. He was outboxed by Shakur in that fight and made to look bad for the first time in his career. In Valdez’s last fight, he looked as good as new, defeating Adam Lopez, winning a one-sided 10 round unanimous decision last May.
“Well, yeah, this figures to be a no-nonsense brawling type fight,” said Bob Arum to Fight Hub TV about Saturday night’s fight between WBO super featherweight champion Emanuel Navarrete and challenger Oscar Valdez on ESPN.
Despite Navarrete-Valdez being an excellent fight on paper, it’s failed to create much buzz with the fans on social media. One reason for that is that both fighters have fought in the lower weight classes, and Navarrete’s resume is filled with soft opposition for the most part.
He’s never stepped up until now, so casual boxing fans have no clue who he is. Also, Navarrete can’t speak English, so that’s hurt him from being able to cross over.
“Two guys who don’t want to give up and don’t ever give up and fight through pain and everything. So it has all the potential of being a fight of the Year. Two fighters that will be dueling in action this weekend.
“This is a kind of fight that, particularly in the Hispanic community, they’ve been debating about for a long time. Navarrete is not a great boxer, to say the least, but he just never stops coming and is a very powerful puncher.
“Oscar has boxing skills, but when he gets into a shootout, he forgets about them and just brawls with his opponent. This is the kind of fight that Mexican fans and Mexican-American fans love, and it’s reminiscent of the trilogy between Barrera and Morales, both of who are coming to the fight and will be here all week.
Navarrete’s best career opponents:
- Isaac Dogboe
- Joet Gonzalez
- Ruben Villa
- Christopher Diaz
- Liam Wilson
“Well, it’s hard to say because how do they feel about staying at 130 or going up to 135? There are so many options that fighters have now, but obviously, a win for either of them is going to be very significant as it affects their earning power.
Arum wants Navarrete vs. Valdez rematch
“Who else is in that division? Who else is there?” said Arum when asked about who the Navarrete vs. Valdez winner could face next. “They’re all good fighters [Rey Vargas & Leo Santa Cruz], but none of them really light up a room.
“So yeah, those fights would happen, but it’s not a full-wattage fight like this fight. It’s very, very hard to get a fight like [Navarrete vs. Valdez] this. We have two crowd-pleasing guys who brawl.
“Maybe the best that I can hope for is that the fight is so good that there’s a tremendous desire for a rematch. It doesn’t look that way, but you never know. It’s boxing,” said Arum about the possibility of the Navarrete vs. Valdez fight going to a decision.
