Emanuel Navarrete defeated Oscar Valdez in their rematch on Saturday night.
A precise and aggressive Navarrete impressed in his return to the 130-pound division by hitting Valdez to the head and body in the main event of a 10-fight card at the Footprint Center in Phoenix. Navarrete dropped Valdez in the first, fourth and sixth rounds and became the first opponent to stop the former two-division champion the distance.
Navarette's left to Valdez's body dropped him for the third time with 30 seconds on the clock in the sixth round. Referee Raul Caiz Jr. ruled him out at 2:42 of the sixth round.
Mexican Navarrete (39-2-1, 32 KO) retained the WBO junior lightweight title by beating the always courageous Valdez into submission. Navarrete revived his career after a 12-round loss to Ukrainian Denys Berinchyk in his previous fight, which was contested in the 135-pound division, and a 12-round majority draw with Brazilian Robson Conceicao in 12 rounds. , 130-pound championship fight before Berinchyk beat him.
Valdez (32-3, 24 KOs) lost by knockout for the first time in his 12-year, 35-fight professional career. The two-time Mexican Olympian's only losses before Saturday night were unanimous points defeats over 12 rounds against Navarette in August 2023 and Shakur Stevenson in April 2022.
Valdez, 34, was close to tears as he apologized to his fans who traveled from Mexico to watch their rematch in person.
“We tried to get the win,” Valdez told ESPN’s Bernardo Osuna in the ring. “We really wanted it. We trained very hard for this. I would like to say that I am sorry to all these people who have come here to see me from all over, from Sonora, from Nogales, from Phoenix. …I wish I could have gotten a better result. Thanks for coming here to support us. Maybe next time.”
Valdez twisted his right ankle when he fell after a knockdown in the first round. However, he later admitted that Navarrete was much more the reason for his TKO loss.
“We slipped and fell and damaged our ankle a little bit,” Valdez said. “But that’s no excuse. [Navarrete] is a great champion. I take my hat off to him. »
Navarrete acknowledged that their second fight was not as easy as it might appear historically on boxrec.com.
“Listen, Oscar Valdez was extremely strong in this fight,” Navarrete said. “And he kept moving forward, so what I had to do was stop him in his tracks and push him back. Because if you let Valdez go down the slope, it's going to be a long night.
The beginning of the end Saturday night came when another vicious left uppercut from Navarrete slammed Valdez into the ropes with about 1:20 left in the sixth round. Valdez tried to fight back, but Navarrete nailed him with the aforementioned left to the body, bringing the action to an abrupt halt.
Navarrete's violent assault continued into the fifth round. The champion caught Valdez with various punishing punches over the course of three minutes, punctuated by a crushing left uppercut that slammed Valdez's mouthpiece to the canvas with seconds remaining in the fifth round.
A left hook from Navarrete knocked Valdez off balance and put him in the corner with just over 1:40 left in the fourth round. Valdez stabilized himself before falling and did his best to make the rest of the fourth round competitive.
However, just before the bell rang to end the fourth round, Navarrete landed several right hands on the retreating Valdez, who fell to the canvas for the second time in their fight.
After suffering a knockdown in the second round, Valdez valiantly took on Navarrete and connected with his fair share of punches that helped him temporarily halt Navarrete's momentum. Navarrete, taller, heavier and stronger, landed a right hand on the temple of a vulnerable Valdez that brought him to his knees with 25 seconds left in the first round. Navarrete looked much more effective from the start of this rematch than in his loss to Berinchyk.
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