Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
Emanuel Navarrete defeated Oscar Valdez during a rematch on Saturday night.
The precise, aggressive Navarrete impressed in his return to the 130-pound division by defeating Valdez by head and body in the main event of a 10-fight card at the Footprint Center in Phoenix. Navarrete dropped Valdez during the first, fourth and sixth rounds to become the first opponent to stop the former two-division champion inside 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. Judge Raul Caiz Jr. he counted him out at 2:42 of the sixth round.
Mexico’s Navarrete (39-2-1, 32 KOs) retained his WBO junior lightweight title by submitting the ever-brave Valdez. Navarrete resurrected his career after a 12-round split-point loss to Ukraine’s Denys Berinchyk in his previous fight, which was contested at 135 pounds, and a 12-round majority draw with Brazil’s Robson Conceicao in a 12-round, 130-fight championship bout in the pound 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 prior to Saturday night were 12-round unanimous decision losses to Navarette in August 2023 and Shakur Stevenson in April 2022.
Valdez, 34, was close to tears as he apologized to his fans who had traveled from Mexico to watch their rematch in person.
“We tried to get the win,” Valdez told ESPN’s Bernard Osuna in the ring. “We really wanted it. We trained very hard for this. I would like to say that I am sorry for all these people who have come here to see me from all over, from Sonora, from Nogales, from Phoenix. … I wish I could have achieved a better result. Thank you for coming to support. Maybe next time.”
Valdez twisted his right ankle when he went down 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 kind of messed up my ankle,” Valdez said. “But that’s not an excuse. (Navarrete) is a great champion. I take my hat off to him.”
Navarrete admitted that their second fight wasn’t as easy as it might historically appear on boxrec.com.
“Look, Oscar Valdez was extremely strong in this fight,” Navarrete said. “And he kept going forward, so I had to stop him in his tracks and push him back. Because if you let Valdez run into you going downhill, it’s going to be a long night.”
The beginning of the end came Saturday night when Navarrete dropped Valdez with another vicious left uppercut with about 1:20 left in the sixth round. Valdez tried to fight back, but Navarrete nailed him to the body with the aforementioned left that brought the action to an abrupt halt.
Navarrete’s violent attack continued throughout the fifth round. The champion caught Valdez with a variety of punishing strikes in those three minutes, punctuated by a devastating left uppercut that sent Valdez face down to the canvas with seconds left in the fifth round.
A left hook from Navarrete knocked Valdez off balance and sent him into the corner with just over 1:40 left in the fourth round. Valdez steadied himself before going down and did his best to make the rest of the fourth round competitive.
Just before the bell sounded to end the fourth round, Navarrete landed multiple right hands on a retreating Valdez, who fell to the canvas for the second time in their fight.
After being knocked down during the second round, Valdez bravely stood up to Navarrete and connected with his fair share of punches in the paint to help temporarily halt Navarrete’s momentum. The taller, heavier, stronger Navarrete landed a right hand to Valdez’s vulnerable temple that dropped him to his gloves and knees with 25 seconds left in the first round. Navarrete looked much more effective as soon as this rematch started than during the loss to Berinchyk.
