Navarrete vs. Valdez 2 Preview

The Footprint Center in Phoenix, Arizona will host two dynamic title fights on Saturday, December 7. In the main event WBO junior lightweight champion Emanual Navarrete will defend his belt in a rematch against former two-weight world champion Oscar Valdez.

Navarrete (38-2-1, 31 KO) has been a champion in three divisions which includes WBO junior featherweight from 2018 to 2022, WBO featherweight from 2020 to 2023 and he has been the WBO junior lightweight champion since 2023. He challenged for a fourth division championship in his last fight but came up short losing to Denys Berinchyk by split decision for the WBO lightweight title.

The Mexican fighter won the WBO junior lightweight belt in 2023 with a devastating ninth round TKO of Liam Wilson. He has since retained the belt in two fights with the first being a unanimous decision win over Valdez.

While Valdez may be looking for revenge, Navarrete is taking a calmer approach into the rematch. “There’s little time left before the fight, and you start to feel the nerves,” said Navarrete. “I don’t like to go back and forth with my opponents. I respect my opponents a lot. My principal instilled in me. I know I don’t gain anything by offending them. “I always show a lot of respect. But in the ring, it’s different. I do what I have to do to walk away victorious. Outside of that, there’s nothing,” said Navarrete.

Navarrete has been criticized for the shape he was in during his last fight. Analysts believed he looked slower and did not have the same snap in his punches.  The champion commented, “Everything was fine except for a few personal things,” said Navarrete. “I was fine throughout the fight other than being a little fatigued, but those are things that can be worked on. After watching the fight over, it was just a bad night for me.”

The pundits believe the best move for Navarrete is to stay at lightweight, but he know he has a responsibility as junior lightweight champion. “I never said I was staying at 135 pounds”, said Navarrete. “I wanted to see how I performed at 135 and make my decision based on that. At 130, I’m the champion, and there was an opportunity to have another great fight with Oscar Valdez. After speaking to my team, we decided to come back down and defend my title at 130. Valdez is coming into this fight motivated, and we think it’s going to be a great fight. If all goes well, we will look at moving up to 135 after doing everything we need to do at 130.”

How does Navarrete feel about fighting Valdez for the second time? “This one will be much harder especially with our styles and us knowing each other already from the first fight. I think this fight will be better than the first one. I’ll be looking for the knockout, which will force me to work harder.”

He concluded, “I try my best to give it my all during every fight,” said Navarrete confidently. “At times, there are circumstances or things that can affect my performance, but those are things that can happen to anyone. This fight has motivated me to work hard during training camp and work on my body in ways I wasn’t able to in the past. This could potentially be the second prime of my career.”

Valdez won the interim version of the WBO belt in his last fight in March with a seventh round TKO over Liam Wilson. The fight was a much needed rebound from the loss to Navarrete as he has gone 2-2 in his last four fights.

The 33-year-old is former two division world champion having held the WBC junior lightweight title from 2021 to 2022 and the WBO featherweight title from 2016 to 2019. How does he feel about facing Navarrete a second time? “This time, it’s going to be a good fight. I already fought him. I know what he’s got. Awkward shots, he comes forward and doesn’t give off,” said Valdez. “I got to win this fight, come back, and it’s going to be a dream come true.”

“We know what to do. We’ve put in the work, and now it’s time to show it on December 7th. I don’t need more motivation than I already have. I have a chance to redeem my loss. Getting a rematch is just as motivating as it can get.

“We know what to do. We’ve put in the work, and now it’s time to show it on December 7th. I don’t need more motivation than I already have. I have a chance to redeem my loss. Getting a rematch is just as motivating as it can get.

“Now, it’s time to step it up and to win. I’m locked and loaded. There’s nothing here that will make me lose focus. Outside of the ring, you can be gentlemen. Inside the ring, there’s no respect,” said Valdez.

The co-main event of the evening will also be for a title as WBO featherweight champion Rafael Espinoza will defend his belt in a rematch against Robeisy Ramirez.

Espinoza (25-0, 21 KO) won the belt in the first fight with Ramirez last December by majority decision. He followed that up with an impressive fourth round TKO over Sergio Chirino Sanchez in June.

The champion talked about his approach to fighting. “When I’m in the fight, I like to decide what I’m going to do and adjust to that. I do things so they don’t hurt me as much. I try to box and not get hit and leave everything in the ring,” said Espinoza.

“Sometimes I like to go ahead to get the results that I want to push on the gas. I’m going to try and do everything intelligently in the ring. I don’t know what happened to him, but I do expect the best version of Robeisy. I want the best version, and I don’t want any excuses. I’m also going to try and give the best version of myself as well.”

While his critics did not consider his last win to be over the best competition, they are questioning whether Espinoza has improved and can handle the power of Ramirez in a second fight.

Ramirez (14-2, 9 KO) followed the loss to Espinoza with a seventh round KO of Brandon Leon Benitez in June. The former champion claims he was not himself in the first fight and vows to get his belt back.

“That Wasn’t Me” “There were a lot of physical things that happened in the fight. A lot of things were happening in my life, but the good thing is everything is fine now. I’m going to be focused for this fight,” Ramirez said.

He proclaimed again, “That wasn’t me. I was looking for a way out of exchanges, and I wasn’t feeling good at that point. I was trying to do something different, and the things that I wanted to do weren’t happening, said Ramirez.

Ramirez continued, “Even though I was like that, it was still Fight of the Year for Top Rank and ESPN. You saw 12 strong rounds. This time, it’s going to be different. In the first fight, I dropped him, and when he got up, it looked ugly. I think that the bell saved him.”

He concluded by saying, “In the camp, my father got sick and almost passed away. That affected me a lot because my father is in Cuba. I can’t go back. I can’t even see him in the hospital. So, that affected me really hard. I didn’t have the desire to train or anything,”

Ramirez won the belt in 2023 and had one title defense before fighting Espinoza. If both fighters do what they promise to do, boxing fans are in for another fight of the year type battle.

The main card is set for 10:30 ET on ESPN and ESPN+.