Emanuel Navarrete Repeatedly Drops, Stops Óscar Valdez in Rematch

Emanuel Navarrete (39-2-1, 32 KOs) repeatedly dropped and defeated Óscar Valdez (32-3, 24 KOs) to remain a super featherweight world champion.

The official time of the knockout was 2:42 of the sixth round. With the win, Navarrete retains the WBO super featherweight title. He is also 2-0 against Valdez, whom he had defeated in August last year.

The fight headlined a Top Rank card at the Footprint Center in Phoenix, AZ. Boxing fans in the United States could catch the action live on ESPN, ESPN Deportes and ESPN+. Those in the United Kingdom and Ireland could do so with Sky Sports. TSN was broadcasting the event in Canada.

Check out our recap of the undercard that included a bizarre victory in the Rafael Espinoza-Robeisy Ramírez world title rematch.

Emanuel Navarrete Repeatedly Drops, Stops Óscar Valdez

Emanuel Navarrete vs. Óscar Valdez Fight Recap

Navarrete scored a knockdown late in the opening round itself landing a right hook to his opponent’s temple. Though Valdez claimed that he had been hit behind the head, replays did show a clean punch landing as he was going down. Before that, both men had mostly been staying at range of each other.

COWBOY UP.

El Vaquero scores the R1 knockdown 🍿 pic.twitter.com/i0M51zQRsR

— Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) December 8, 2024

As the fight progressed, Valdez struggled to deal with the output of Navarrete. No matter what he did, it hardly put a dent in “Vaquero.” At the very end of round four, Valdez was down for a second time from a series of right hands.

ANOTHER VAQUERO KNOCKDOWN CLOSING R4 😨 pic.twitter.com/nXQlp6sDXM

— Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) December 8, 2024

Valdez attempted to go back-and-forth with his opponent. However, the problem with doing this was that Navarrete was simply throwing and landing far more punches. Towards the end of round six, Valdez was hit with a left hook to the body. That punch kept him down for the entire count, giving Navarrate yet another victory over Valdez.

A NAVARRETE BEATDOWN.

EL VAQUERO DOES IT AGAIN 🇲🇽👑 pic.twitter.com/5J3JEZyVSn

— Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) December 8, 2024

Post-fight Interview

Emanuel Navarrete

“Look, Óscar Valdez is extremely strong in this fight and he kept coming forward,” said Navarrete through an interpreter. “So, what I had to do was to stop him in his tracks and push him backward because if you let Valdez come at you coming downhill, then it’s gonna be a long night.”

“Look, I told you guys once my left hand was healed I was gonna throw it in different ways and you saw that punch variety and how effective it was. All I can tell you is, you are now witnessing the second stage of my career and we’re gonna do great things.”

Óscar Valdez

“We tried, that’s the most important thing,” said Valdez. “Tried to get the victory, really wanted it. Trained very hard for this. I just [want] to say I’m sorry for all these people who came over here to see me from all over the place. From Sonora, Nogales, Hermosillo, Phoenix. Thank you. I wish I could’ve gotten a better result. Thank you for coming here, supporting [me]. Maybe next time.”

“I mean, no excuses. He beat me well. I don’t want to put no excuses [out there]. I slipped, fell. Kinda messed up a little bit my ankle, but, no excuses. ‘Vaquero’ is a great champion. Take my hat off to him.”