Emanuel Navarrete vs Oscar Valdez Preview December 7th, 2024
Emanuel Navarrete of Mexico will heading back to the junior lightweight division this weekend after failing in his attempt to win a world title in a fourth weight division in May when Denis Berinchyk beat him by unanimous decision for the vacant WBO Lightweight Belt. Navarrete will be putting his WBO Belt on the line against fellow countryman and former WBO Featherweight and WBC Junior Lightweight Champion Oscar Valdez in a rematch. Navarrete and Valdez squared off in a slugfest in August, 2023 with Navarrete winning by unanimous decision. The 12-rounder from Phoenix, Arizona can be seen live in America on the ESPN platform while fans in the UK and Ireland can catch it on Sky Sports Plus. Navarrete won the vacant WBO Junior Lightweight Crown after getting up from the canvas in the fourth round to stop Liam Wilson in the ninth round in February, 2023. He then beat Valdez and drew with Robson Conceicao in his first two defences. Valdez last boxed in March when he halted Liam Wilson in the seventh round.
Navarrete vs Valdez Betting Odds
Here are the betting odds from online sportsbook BetOnline.ag (full review here).
- Oscar Valdez +220
- Emanuel Navarrete -280
My Pick
The 29-year-old Navarrete won the WBO World Super Bantamweight title by beating Isaac Dogboe by unanimous decision in December, 2018 then stopped him in the 12th round in their rematch five months later. He defended it four times with the fifth defence being called a no-contest after he stopped Uriel Lopez in the sixth round because there was no boxing commission present during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Navarrete moved up in weight and captured the vacant WBO Featherweight Crown in 2020 with a unanimous decision over Ruben Villa and defended it by stopping Christopher Diaz in the 12th round before decisioning Joet Gonzalez and then stopping Eduardo Baez in six. He then won a title in a third weight division in 2023 with his ninth-round TKO over Liam Wilson. The recent activity sees Navarrete enter the ring with an official mark of 38-2-1 with 31 Ko’s. He has plenty of power in his punches as 81.6 per cent of his wins have been by stoppage and his power doesn’t seem to fade in the later rounds. He has gone the distance in five of his last eight fights though.
Navarrete stands 5-feet-7-inches tall with a 72-inch reach, turned pro back in 2012 when he was just 17 years old and has boxed 240 rounds since. His first defeat came in his sixth pro bout when he came out on the wrong end of a four-round unanimous decision to Daniel Argueta. Navarrete also owns wins over the likes of Dennis Contreras, Luis Orozco and Glenn Porras earlier in his career. Even though Wilson dropped him in their 2023 battle, he’s proven to have a pretty solid chin so far.
The 33-year-old Valdez owns an impressive mark of 32-2 with 24 Ko’s and has 221 rounds of experience under his belt since turning pro in 2012 after a stellar amateur career. He also has fine power as 75 per cent of his victories have been by stoppage, but has gone the distance four of his past five fights and seven of his past 13 and has lost two of his last four. Valdez measures just over 5-feet-5-inches tall with a 66-inch reach which sees him give up three inches in height and four inches in reach to Navarrete.
Valdez is the only two-time boxing Olympian from Mexico, but failed to win a medal at the 2008 and 2012 Games in Beijing, China and London, England. Valdez did win a dozen medals in other international competitions though and had more than 200 amateur bouts. One of these included a loss to Vasyl Lomachenko and he was also beaten by Robson Conceicao in the gold medal match at the Pan American Games over 12 years ago. Valdez avenged the defeat to Conceicao as a pro when he dealt him a controversial 12-round unanimous decision in September, 2021.
Even though Valdez won the vacant WBO Featherweight Title in 2016 when he stopped Matias Rueda in the second round and defended it six times, he wasn’t facing a steady diet of Grade A boxers until stopping Miguel Berchelt in the 10th round in February, 2021 to win the WBC Junior Lightweight Title. However, he has wins over fine competitors such as Scott Quigg, Jason Sanchez, Jayson Velez, Miguel Marriaga, Hiroshige Osawa, Evgeny Gradovich, Chris Avalos, Jose Ramirez, Alberto Garza and Ruben Tamayo. He’s also won the WBO NABO Featherweight, NABF Junior Featherweight, and NABF Junior Super Featherweight Titles as a pro.
Prediction…
Navarrete is an aggressive fighter with plenty of power. He’s a volume puncher who typically stops opponents with an accumulation of blows but has been on the canvas before. He struggles somewhat against superior boxers and while Valdez is a tough son of a gun he doesn’t really possess what you’d call elite boxing skills. Navarrete’s power usually pulls him through and although he didn’t stop Valdez in their first meeting he did inflict quite a bit of damage. Navarrete was riding a 33-fight winning streak which stretched back 11 years before drawing with Conceicao and he’s now winless in the past two fights thanks to the loss to Berinchyk. Valdez had some extremely good moments in the first fight with Navarrete and both are fan-friendly boxers due to their style. This should be another all-action fight but I think Navarrete’s volume punching will be enough to beat Valdez again.
Navarrete is naturally more aggressive with a bit more power.
Play Navarrete -280 @ BetOnline.ag
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Emanuel Navarrete betting • Oscar Valdez betting