Emanuel Navarrete nails Eduardo Baez throughout his closing protection of the WBO featherweight title in August 2022. (Picture by Mikey Williams/ High Rank Inc through Getty Photos)
Seems just like the all-Mexico world title conflict between Emanuel Navarrete and Oscar Valdez has a date.
Navarrete and Valdez will sq. off on February 3 on an ESPN platform, a supply confirmed to The Ring Friday afternoon. ESPN’s Mike Coppinger and Boxingscene’s Jake Donovan put out the story first.
The 12-round bout, which might be for the vacant WBO junior light-weight title, will happen on the Desert Diamond Enviornment in Glendale, Arizona, a suburb of Phoenix. The Desert Diamond Enviornment was the identical venue used for the December 3 conflict between Ring Journal junior bantamweight champion Juan Francisco Estrada and Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez, which Estrada received by majority determination.
The 27-year-old Navarrete (36-1, 30 knockouts), who resides in San Juan Zitlaltepec, Mexico, made what’s now the ultimate protection of the WBO featherweight title, knocking out Eduardo Baez on August 20 in a detailed struggle. Navarrete made three successive title defenses of the title.
The WBO allowed Navarrete to face Valdez for the vacant belt at 130 kilos at their conference in October. Per its bylaws, every so often, WBO world titleholders might transfer up a division and problem for a vacant world title on the larger weight.
Navarrete is at present ranked No. 1 at 126 kilos by The Ring. Navarrete additionally received a world title at 122 kilos.
Oscar Valdez floored Jayson Velez thrice throughout their July 2020 struggle, which Valdez received by Tenth-round stoppage. (Picture by Mikey Williams/High Rank)
In his final struggle, Valdez (30-1, 23 KOs) was soundly defeated by then-No. 1-ranked junior light-weight Shakur Stevenson, who unified two titles and have become the Ring champion because of this. Valdez, who had been de-ranked prior that struggle as a consequence of failed drug exams earlier than his struggle towards Robson Conceicao in September 2021, returned to the record because the No. 1 contender to Stevenson’s crown. (Stevenson was subsequently stripped of his titles for lacking weight towards Conceicao.)
The 31-year-old Valdez has received world title belts in three weight courses. A win over Navarrete would make him a four-time world titleholder, twice as a junior light-weight. He’s managed by Frank Espinoza.
Valdez will possible have the gang on his aspect, as he resides in Nogales, a city alongside the U.S.-Mexico border that may be a three-hour drive from Glendale. Valdez has fought a handful of occasions in Tucson, located about 70 miles from Nogales.
Each Navarrete and Valdez struggle beneath the High Rank banner.
Francisco A. Salazar has written for The Ring since October 2013 and has lined boxing in Southern California and overseas since 2000. Francisco additionally covers boxing for the Ventura County (California) Star newspaper. He could be reached at [email protected]
