By Ian S Palmer
WBO Featherweight Champion Emanuel Navarrete of Mexico returns to the ring when he faces Christopher Diaz of Puerto Rico in Kissimmee, Florida this Saturday, April 24. The 12-round bout can be seen live on ESPN, ESPN+ and ESPN Depotes in America while those in Canada can see it on TSN 5 and UK fans can catch it on FITE. Navarrete won the vacant title via a unanimous decision over Ruben Villa in October after dropping him in the first and fourth rounds. Diaz last fought in June when he beat Jason Sanchez by a 10-round unanimous decision.
The 26-year-old Navarrete won the WBO World Super Bantamweight title by beating Isaac Dogboe by unanimous decision in December of 2018 and then stopped him in the 12th round in their rematch five months later. He then defended it four times with the fifth defence being called a no-contest after he stopped Uriel Lopez in the sixth round because there was no commission present during the Covid-19 pandemic.
This means Navarrete enters the ring with an official mark of has an impressive mark of 32-1 with 27 big Kos. He has a current knockout ratio of 79.4 per cent so obviously has quite a bit of power in his punches. The champion stands 5-feet-7-inches tall with a 72-inch reach. He turned pro back in 2012 when he was just 17 and has boxed 165 rounds since then.
Navarrete’s lone defeat came in his sixth pro bout when he came out on the wrong end of a four-round unanimous decision to Daniel Argueta. Other than meeting and beating Dogboe twice, the average fan won’t really recognize many of Navarrete’s opponents up to now though other than perhaps Dennis Contreras, Luis Orozco and Glenn Porras. But on the bright side, most of his foes have entered the ring with winning records. He proved he has a solid chin against Dogboe and his power didn’t appear to fade in the later rounds.
The 26-year-old Diaz is 26-2 with 16 Kos. He lost a unanimous decision to Japan’s Masayuki Ito for the vacant WBO Super Featherweight Championship in July, 2018 and dropped a 10-round unanimous decision to Shakur Stevenson for the vacant WBO NABO Featherweight Crown in April, 2019 for his two defeats. Diaz was born in Philadelphia, but the family moved to Puerto Rico when he was just a month old.
He turned pro back in 2013 after 187 amateur bouts and has boxed 144 rounds since. Diaz stands 5-feet-6-inches tall and has a 64-inch reach so he’s giving up an inch in height and eight inches in reach to Navarrete. He’s got decent power in his fists with a current knockout ratio of 57.1 per cent and likes to go to the body. Since turning pro he’s won the WBO NABO Super Featherweight crown and the WBO Youth Featherweight Title.
Diaz has fought numerous times on U.S. soil, but he hasn’t really faced any other upper echelon boxers as of yet other than Stevenson. You may recognize some of his other opponents though such as Ray Ximinez, Fernando Vargas, Efrain Esquivias and Bryant Cruz. Diaz is an aggressive, action fighter who’d prefer to stop his opponent rather than leave it in the hands of the judges and that’s what makes him so fan friendly and he was named prospect of the year for 2016 by ESPN Deportes.
Prediction…
Navarrete loves to keep busy and he’s always in top shape but he struggled against Villa the last time out and even with two knockdowns he beat him by scores of 114-112, 114-112 and 115-111. Navarrete possesses power and he’s tough to beat but the same can be said of Diaz. This should be an action fight and a pretty close one too. The reach advantage means Diaz will need to get inside if possible and this could be the difference in the outcome. Since Navarrete is the champ though I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and believe he’ll do just enough to keep the belt.
