Three-division world champion Emanuel Navarrete defends his WBO junior lightweight title in an all-Mexican clash against Oscar Valdez at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona on Saturday, August 12. The pair squares off in the scheduled for 12 rounds main event bout live on ESPN, ESPN Deportes and live stream on ESPN+.
In the co-feature, Raymond Muratalla and Diego Torres go face to face in a 10-rounder at lightweight. The main card opener pits Richard Torrez Jr against Willie Jake Jr in a six-rounder at heavyweight.
Navarrete (37-1, 31 KOs), the fighting pride of San Juan Zitlaltepec, captured the WBO junior featherweight title by defeating Isaac Dogboe in December 2018. After five defenses, he moved up to featherweight and defeated Ruben Villa for the vacant WBO belt in October 2020. The 28-year-old defended his crown against Christopher Diaz, Joet Gonzalez, and Eduardo Baez. In February, he became a three-division world champion with a ninth-round knockout victory over Liam Wilson.
Valdez (31-1, 23 KOs), from Nogales, represented Mexico at the 2008 and 2012 Olympics. The 32-year-old captured his first world title in July 2016 with a second-round stoppage win over Matias Rueda. In February 2021, he became a two-division world champion with a 10th-round knockout against Miguel Berchelt. Valdez suffered his first loss to Shakur Stevenson in April 2022. He is coming off a unanimous decision victory against Adam Lopez in May.
Tickets for the event can be purchased through TicketNetwork and TicketSmarter.
This is what Navarrete had to say after a recent training session at The BXNG Club in San Diego:
‘We’ll see whose head comes off first!’
“The training camp has been intense. The preparation was very tough. Fortunately, we were able to carry it out quite well. I had always done things in a conventional way, but now we have included a physical trainer, Francisco Javier Orozco. This fight with Valdez merited that change, and I will come into this fight much better physically.”
“Winning this fight would boost my career significantly. Personally, I would feel complete. What has been missing in my career is precisely a victory against someone like Valdez. It would fill me with pride to be part of such an iconic fight between Mexicans and come out victorious.”
“People know that I throw a lot of punches and that I’m always in attractive fights. Now, with Valdez, I believe it will be twice as spectacular. Valdez is a fighter who doesn’t hold back. We always see him moving forward and throwing punches.”
“He says he’s going to knock my head off, but let’s see whose head comes off first. Let’s see what Valdez has to offer, and let’s see how much he can endure and how much I can endure, too.”
In the UK and Australia, Emanuel Navarrete vs Oscar Valdez airs live on Sunday, August 13.
