Emanuel Navarrete crushed Oscar Valdez during their rematch on Saturday night.
A precise, aggressive Navarrete impressed in his return to the 130-pound division by knocking 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 inside the distance.
Navarette’s left to the body of Valdez dropped him for the third time with 30 seconds on the clock in the sixth round. Referee Raul Caiz Jr. he pinned him at 2:42 of the sixth round.
Mexico’s Navarrete (39-2-1, 32 KOs) retained his WBO junior lightweight title by knocking out the ever-brave Valdez by submission. Navarrete revived his career after a 12-round loss to Ukraine’s Denys Berinchyk in his previous fight, who fought at 135 pounds, and a 12-round draw with Brazil’s Robson Conceicao in a 12-round, 130-fight championship bout pounds before Berinchik 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 12-point unanimous decision losses to Navarette in August 2023 and Shakur Stevenson in April 2022.
Valdez, 34, was close to tears as he apologized to fans who had traveled from Mexico to witness their rematch.
“We tried to get the win,” Valdez told ESPN’s Bernardo Osuna in the ring. “We really wanted it. We trained really hard for this. I’d like to say I’m 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 had a better result. Thank you for coming here to support. Maybe next time.”
Valdez sprained his right ankle when he fell from a knockdown in the first round. He admitted later, however, that Navarrete was much more the reason for the TKO loss.
“We slipped and fell and kind of messed up my ankle,” 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 wasn’t as easy as it might historically appear to boxrec.com.
“Look, Oscar Valdez was extremely strong in this fight,” Navarrete said. “And he kept coming forward, so what I had to do was stop him and push him back. Because if you let Valdez come to you going downhill, then it’s going to be a long night.”
The beginning of the end Saturday night came when another vicious left uppercut from Navarrete sent Valdez into the ropes with about 1:20 to go in the sixth round. Valdez tried to fight back, but Navarrete nailed him with an overhand left to the body that brought the action to an abrupt halt.
Navarrete’s brutal onslaught continued throughout the fifth round. The champion caught Valdez with a variety of punishing punches in those three minutes, punctuated by a crushing left uppercut that knocked Valdez’s mouthpiece to the canvas seconds before the fifth round.
A Navarrete left hook knocked Valdez off balance and into a corner with just over 1:40 to go in the fourth round. Valdez steadied himself before going down and tried to make the rest of the fourth round competitive.
Just before the bell rang to end the fourth round, however, Navarrete landed several 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 went at Navarrete and connected with his share of flush punches that helped him temporarily curb Navarrete’s momentum. The taller, heavier, stronger Navarrete landed a right hand to the temple of a vulnerable Valdez that dropped him to his gloves and knees 25 seconds into the first round. Navarrete looked much more effective once this rematch started than he did in his loss to Berinchyk.
