Emanuel Navarrete defeated Oscar Valdez during their rematch on Saturday night.
The precise and aggressive Navarrete impressed in his return to the 130-pound division by nailing Valdez to the head and body in the main event of a 10-fight card at the Footprint Center in Phoenix. Navarrete dropped Valdez during the first, fourth and sixth rounds and became the first competitor to stop the former two-division champion within the distance.
Navarrete let Valdez's body drop him for a third time with 30 seconds on the clock in the sixth round. Referee Raul Caiz Jr. counted him out at 2:42 of the sixth round.
Mexican Navarrete (39-2-1, 32 KOs) retained his WBO junior lightweight title by defeating and submitting the always fearless Valdez. Navarrete revived his career after losing in 12 rounds on points to Ukraine's Denis Perincek in his previous fight, which was contested in the 135-pound division, and a 12-round majority draw with Brazilian Robson Conceicao in a 12-round, 130-pound championship bout before Perincek knocked him out.
Valdez (32-3, 24 KO) 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-round unanimous decision defeats to Navarrete in August 2023 and Shakur Stevenson in April 2022.
Valdes, 34, was on the verge of tears as he apologized to his fans who had traveled from Mexico to watch the rematch in person.
“We tried to get the victory,” Valdez told ESPN's Bernardo Osuna in the ring. “We really wanted this. We trained hard for this. I would like to say I'm sorry to all those people who came here to see me from everywhere, from Sonora, from Nogales, from Phoenix. … I hope I get a better result. Thank you for being here to support . Maybe next time.”
Valdez sprained his right ankle when falling from a knockdown in the first round. However, he then admitted that Navarrete was the biggest 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. Hats off to him.”
Navarrete acknowledged that their second fight was not as easy as it might seem historically on boxrec.com.
“Look, Oscar Valdez was very strong in this fight,” Navarrete said. “And he kept moving forward, so what I had to do was stop him and push him back. Because if you let Valdez come at you and come down the ramp, it's going to be a long night.”
The beginning of the end came on Saturday night when Navarrete with another ferocious left hook dropped Valdez into the ropes with about 1:20 left in the sixth round. Valdez tried to fight back, but Navarrete nailed him with the aforementioned left hand to the body that abruptly stopped the action.
Navarrete's ferocious attack continued through the fifth round. The champion caught Valdez with various punishing punches in those three minutes, punctuated by a crushing left uppercut that knocked Valdez's mouthpiece to the canvas a few seconds before the fifth round.
A left hook by Navarrete knocked Valdez off balance and into the corner with just over 1:40 to go in the fourth round. Valdez settled himself before going down and tried his best to make the remainder of the fourth round competitive.
Just before the bell rang to end the fourth round, Navarrete landed several right hands on the retreating Valdez, who fell to the canvas for the second time in the bout.
After suffering a knockdown during the second round, Valdez gamely took on Navarrete and connected with his fair share of powerful punches that helped him temporarily stall Navarrete's momentum. The taller, heavier and stronger Navarrete landed a right hand to Valdez's vulnerable temple that knocked him to his gloves and knees with 25 seconds left in the first round. Navarrete looked more effective once this rematch began than he did during his loss to Berinchyk.
