Oscar Valdez will seek revenge for his previous loss against Emanuel Navarrete in a rematch for the WBO super featherweight title on Saturday, December 7, at the Footprint Center in Phoenix, Arizona.
(Credit: High quality)
Valdez (32-2, 24 KOs) claims he is coming off a 12-round unanimous decision loss to ‘Vaquero’ Navarrete (38-2-1, 31 KOs) last year on August 12. He says he had a good camp going into -matchup, which made the loss difficult to deal with mentally.
The descent of Navarrete
Valdez catches Navarrete at the right time in his career. He has looked terrible in his last two fights and is showing serious signs of being on top of the hill. He is only 29, but he looks much older, which makes one wonder if he has been burning the candle at both ends between the wars. He wouldn’t be the first striker to ruin his career by living in the middle of nowhere and not staying dedicated.
The stubborn weight settled around Navarrete’s once-trim midsection shows that he doesn’t live a life between fights. With his growing belly, he looks almost like a retired fighter, and he doesn’t look young anymore.
No matter what Vaquero has been eating, it sticks to his ribs and slows him down. What he needed was a training camp where he was tortured, and food was controlled.
The Navarrete-Valdez 2 event will air at 10:30 pm ET/ 7:30 pm PT on ESPN and ESPN+. In this match, the WBO featherweight champion, Rafael Espinoza, will face former champion Robeisy Ramirez in a rematch that could highlight the main event if they do something like last year on December 9.
Valdez didn’t give any hints about what he was going to do in the rematch to win, as he tried everything last, but Navarrete had a lot of power and size in him. That won’t change in the rematch unless Valdez gets stronger.
One thing Valdez, 33, has going for him is that Navarrete is coming off a 12-round decision loss to Denys Berinchyk on May 18 in an unsuccessful bid to win the vacant WBO lightweight title.
2012 Ukrainian Olympian Berinchyk completely schooled Navarrete, beating him inside and out and making him look like a novice. Navarrete looked flashy, slow, and poorly trained. If he looks like that to Valdez, he will lose.
Valdez Wants Revenge
“You could tell at 135, he didn’t look like a solid 135. I have no doubt he’s making weight,” said Oscar Valdez on Fight Hub TV when asked if he was wondering if Emanuel Navarrete would make the 130-lb limit for their fight this Saturday night.
“I don’t sell that at all. I can’t train expecting that,” said Valdez about whether ‘Vaquero’ Navarrete is showing signs of deterioration. “I have to train myself to be the best version of Vaquero. I have already entered the ring with him. I already know what it’s like.
“Now, it’s a different game plan, a different mindset. Most of the time you get a replay, it was a close fight, and I agree it wasn’t a very close fight. It was a one-sided war.
“When I fought Liam Wilson, it was a career-defining fight. If I had lost that fight, I probably wouldn’t be here right now. So the fact that I won that fight was my ticket because after that fight,” said Valdez.
Valdez kept his career alive with a 7-round knockout victory over Liam Wilson on March 29th. That was a good performance by Valdez, but he was facing a vulnerable guy, knocked out in the 9th round by Navarrete last year on February 3rd.
“I started to hear more about the replay [with Navarrete]. I didn’t think much of it until I got the call. ‘Are you willing to fight?’” Valdez said.
“My immediate reaction was, ‘Hell, yes. Vamanos, let’s take it.’ What I will do is take advantage of it and learn from my mistakes. I was expected to win that fight because I had a good camp. Losing, it was difficult to go back to train. It was difficult to maintain the hunger I always had,” said Valdez.
Last year, on August 12, Navarrete beat Vadez with scores of 119-109, 118-110, and 116-112. Navarrete has NOT looked good in his two fights since, being handed a 12 count draw against Robson Conceicao on November 16, 2023, then losing to Berinchyk.
You look at those two fights happening in succession for Navarrete; the only conclusion you can reach is that he is showing signs of decline. He looked impressive in the center in both fights, and that suggests he was enjoying the money he made. He’s obviously rich, and when fighters make a lot of money, it’s hard not to enjoy it with food.
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