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Emanuel Navarrete outpointed Óscar Valdez during Saturday night’s rematch.
A precise and aggressive Navarrete impressed in his return to the 130-pound division by hitting Valdez in the head and body in the main event of a 10-fight card at the Footprint Center in Phoenix. Navarrete knocked down Valdez during the first, fourth and sixth rounds and became the first opponent to stop the former two-division champion inside the distance.
Navarette’s left hand to Valdez’s body dropped him for the third time with 30 seconds left in the sixth round. Referee Raúl Caiz Jr. counted it at 2:42 of the sixth round.
Mexico’s Navarrete (39-2-1, 32 KOs) retained the WBO junior lightweight title by beating the ever-brave Valdez into submission. Navarrete revived his career after a 12-round split points 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 the 12 rounds, 130 pounds. fight for the pound championship before Berinchyk beat him.
Valdez (32-3, 24 KOs) lost by knockout for the first time in his 12 years and 35 fights as a professional. The two-time Mexican Olympian’s only losses before Saturday night were unanimous 12-round 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 traveled from Mexico to see the 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 for all these people who came here to see me from all over, from Sonora, from Nogales, from Phoenix. …I wish I could have gotten a better result. Thank you for coming here to support. Maybe next time.”
Valdez sprained 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 hurt my ankle a little bit,” Valdez said. “But that is no excuse. [Navarrete] He is a great champion. I take my hat off to him.”
Navarrete acknowledged that his second fight was not as easy as it might historically appear on boxrec.com.
“Look, 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 come at you, downhill, then it’s going to be a long night.”
The beginning of the end on Saturday night came when another fierce left hook from Navarrete knocked Valdez against the ropes with about 1:20 left in the sixth round. Valdez tried to counterattack, but Navarrete nailed him with the aforementioned left to the body, which abruptly stopped the action.
Navarrete’s violent assault continued during the fifth round. The champion caught Valdez with several punishing blows in those three minutes, punctuated by a crushing left hook that knocked Valdez’s mouthpiece to the canvas with seconds left in the fifth round.
A left hook from Navarrete unbalanced Valdez and cornered him 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.
However, just before the bell rang to end the fourth round, Navarrete landed multiple right hands on the retreating Valdez, who fell to the canvas for the second time in their fight.
After suffering a knockdown during the second round, Valdez bravely went toe-to-toe with Navarrete and landed a good number of punches that helped him temporarily stop Navarrete’s momentum. Navarrete, taller, heavier and stronger, landed a right hand to the temple of a vulnerable Valdez 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 began than he did during his loss to Berinchyk.
