FightPost Boxer of the Week: Emanuel Navarrete

FightPost Boxer of the Week: Emanuel Navarrete

By Gary Kittilsen

Emanuel Navarrete went from obscurity to world champion literally overnight when he shocked the world and took the WBO super bantamweight title from budding superstar Isaac Dogboe in what may have been the upset of the year for 2018 via unanimous.

He doubled down and stopped Dogboe five months later in the rematch in a one-sided beatdown proving the first go-around was no fluke.

For his encore performance, Navarette was given an undefeated prospect in Francisco De Vaca and easily took care of business scoring a third-round TKO to make the second defense of his title and capture our Fighter Of The Week award.

Saturday nights card was the inaugural boxing event at the Banc of California Stadium in Los Angeles.

Navarrete was clearly bigger, stronger and more powerful than Da Vaca, and used those sizeable advantages from the onset. Coming out aggressive and taking the fight straight to De Vaca, landing heavy, thudding power shots that stopped the challenger in his tracks in the first round, forcing him backward.

By the second round, De Vaca’s nose was busted open and bleeding as Navarrete continued to tee off on his overmatched opponent and finally dropping him with right uppercut late in the round.

The third round picked up where the second fashion. Pummeling the challenger with a two-fisted barrage of power shots De Vaca fought valiantly to get himself back into the fight but it was to no avail as Navarrete walked straight through those shots and eventually the two-fisted attack by the champion became too much for the defenseless challenger forcing referee Raul Caiz Sr. to step in and call a halt to the bout 1 minute, 54 seconds into the third round.

Navarette will have plenty of options moving forward in the 122-pound division as he plans to stay highly active for the foreseeable future. He is set to again defend his title a month from now on the Fury-Walin card on September 14th, Mexican Independence Day weekend in Las Vegas.

No opponent has been announced yet. However, unification bouts with the other 122-pound world titleholders Ray Vargas and Daniel Roman would both be highly intriguing and highly competitive scraps.

Promoter Bob Arum called Navarrete the “Best Fighter In Mexico” following his sensational performance. While that is certainly high praise and a bold statement, to say the least Navertete is well on his way, with performances like he handed in on Saturday night, to becoming a superstar in Mexico and the US.