Navarrete halts Elorde in fourth to retain
Back in action in just after four weeks, Emanuel “Vaquero” Navarrete stopped No. 2 contender Juan Miguel Elorde in dominant fashion over four rounds to retain his WBO junior featherweight world title for the third time.
The contest which was the co-main event on the Tyson Fury-Otto Wallin card out in Las Vegas saw what was a plodding round one for the champion. Navattere was making his latest title defense fresh off the heels of a third-round stoppage of Francisco De Vaca back in August. That was the only round however Elorde (28-2, 15 KO) had any hope against Navarrete (29-1, 25 KO) as from there he began to pour it on.
2️⃣Junior Featherweight title defenses in 4️⃣weeks.
24-year-old Emanuel Navarrete made a statement on Mexican Independence Day Weekend, and is officially a problem for everyone in the division. pic.twitter.com/FH0060CHix
— Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) September 16, 2019
Once the third round bell rang, Navarrete looked to put an end to this one however and effectively did just that. Navarrete beat Elorde soundly in the third round when he landed numerous power punches and bloodied Elorde’s nose in the middle of the round. A left hook by Navarrete knocked Elorde into the ropes, which held him up and caused referee Russell Mora to count that as a knockdown.
Elorde and his corner were advised that the fighter from the Philippines had to “show him something” before the bell to start round four occurred, but Navarrete had other plans. The fourth began with Navarrete landing more power shots, which forced Mora to stop the scheduled 12-round fight 26 seconds into the fourth.
“I’m happy because I think I put on a great performance. Fortunately, my opponent is OK, and I came out here to put on a show,” Navarrete said after the fight. “I hope the fans enjoyed it on my very first Las Vegas show on Mexican Independence Day Weekend. ‘Vaquero’ Navarrete is here to stay.”
We’ll see what is next for Navarrete and if he’ll be in action to round of the year as he has hinted about being an active champion. One name that has floated around is Ray Vargas in a potential matchup.
Marquis Johns is a unknown humorist and avid boxing fan. His love for the sweet science goes back to when matches were 15 rounds and has been covering fights since closed-circuit pay-per-views. Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth is not only a quote by Mike Tyson, it's also a pretty good reminder to keep your guard up.
