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Emanuel Navarrete vs. Oscar Valdez Junior Lightweight
World Title Showdown Set For Aug. 12
The showdown of the summer heads to the desert in a battle
that has all the makings of an instant action classic.
Three-division world champion Emanuel “Vaquero” Navarrete
will defend his WBO junior lightweight world title against
former two-division world champion Oscar Valdez in an
all-Mexican duel Saturday, August 12 at Desert Diamond Arena
in Glendale, Arizona. Navarrete and Valdez seek to etch
their names among the celebrated catalog of Mexican
rivalries that includes Marco Antonio Barrera-Erik Morales,
Ruben Olivares-Chucho Castillo and Rafael Marquez-Israel
Vazquez.
Navarrete-Valdez will be broadcast live on ESPN, ESPN
Deportes and ESPN+ at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT.
Promoted by Top Rank, ticket information will be announced
shortly. Check out
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“Emanuel Navarrete and Oscar Valdez are proud warriors, and
this is a fight that is destined to go down as a classic,”
said Top Rank chairman Bob Arum. “The fight fans at Desert
Diamond Arena and everyone watching on ESPN are in for a
real treat. The winner of this fight etches his name among
the great Mexican fighters. I can’t wait.”
Navarrete (37-1, 31 KOs), the fighting pride of San Juan
Zitlaltepec, captured his first world title by defeating
Isaac Dogboe for the WBO junior featherweight crown in
December 2018. He made five defenses before moving up to
featherweight, where he beat Ruben Villa for the vacant WBO
title in October 2020. The 28-year-old defended his belt
with victories over Christopher Diaz, Joet Gonzalez and
Eduardo Baez before moving up to 130 pounds. In February,
Navarrete joined an elite list of Mexican three-division
champions — including Morales, Barrera and Julio Cesar
Chavez — by defeating Liam Wilson via ninth-round TKO for
the WBO junior lightweight world title. Make sure to
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Navarrete said, “After so much time, this fight will finally
take place. Obviously, I am 100 percent motivated because
Valdez is still a big threat, and a fight against him could
possibly be the start of a new Mexico vs. Mexico rivalry
like the one between Barrera and Morales."
Valdez (31-1, 23 KOs), from Nogales, represented Mexico at
the 2008 and 2012 Olympics. As a pro, he captured the WBO
featherweight world title against Matias Rueda in 2016 and
made six successful defenses. He moved up to junior
lightweight and defeated Adam Lopez in 2019 and Jayson Velez
in 2020 before taking on his toughest challenge, a WBC title
tilt against Miguel Berchelt in February 2021. Despite
disadvantages in height, reach and power, Valdez
counterpunched his way to three crushing knockdowns, the
last of which earned him a 10th-round KO. After a
competitive fight against Olympic gold medalist Robson
Conceição later that year, Valdez suffered his first defeat
in a title unification battle against Shakur Stevenson in
April 2022. He bounced back by defeating Lopez in a rematch
in the co-feature to the Devin Haney-Vasiliy Lomachenko
super fight last month, and he now hopes to equal Navarrete
as a three-time world champion.
Valdez said, “I’m excited to return to the ring, especially
because it’s for a world title against ‘Vaquero’ Navarrete.
Being a world champion is something that I always dreamed
of. I already did it two times, and this is yet another
opportunity. So, I’m excited and prepared both mentally and
physically for this new opportunity. And I like that it’s
between two Mexicans because it’s a win-win for Mexico. It's
a guaranteed war when there are two Mexicans in the ring.”
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