By Ian S Palmer
Former WBO Super Bantamweight Champion Emanuel Navarrete of Mexico will be defending his WBO Featherweight Title for the third time when he meets Joet Gonzalez of Glendora, California this Friday, Oct. 15th. He last fought in April when he stopped Christopher Diaz in the 12th round and won the vacant title in his previous outing six months earlier when he dropped Ruben Villa in the first and fourth rounds on his way to a close unanimous decision win. Gonzalez last boxed in September, 2020 with a 10-round unanimous decision over Miguel Marriaga for the vacant WBO International Featherweight Title. The 12-rounder from San Diego, California can be seen live in America on ESPN+ while FITE TV will carry it in the UK.
The 26-year-old Navarrete won the WBO World Super Bantamweight title by beating Isaac Dogboe by unanimous decision in December, 2018 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 34-1 with 29 big Kos. He owns a current knockout ratio of 83 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, turned pro back in 2012 when he was just 17years old and has boxed 177 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 too many of Navarrete’s opponents up to now though other than Diaz and perhaps Ruben Villa, 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 doesn’t appear to fade in the later rounds.
As for Gonzalez, he just turned 28 years old and has a fine record of 24-1 with 14 Kos. He’s 5-feet-6-inches tall with a 70-inch reach which gives him a one-inch height and two-inch reach disadvantage to Navarrete. Gonzalez made his pro debut in 2012 and has 129 rounds of experience. He also has pretty good power with a current knockout ratio of 56 per cent. Since turning pro he’s also captured the WBO NABO Featherweight Belt.
Gonzalez’s biggest wins have been against Marriaga, Rafael Rivera, Rodrigo Guerrero, Derrick Murray and Jose Miguel Tamayo. His lone defeat came to Shakur Stevenson via unanimous decision in a shot at the vacant WBO Featherweight Title in October, 2019. Gonzalez possesses a fine jab and combines it with good footwork while keeping his guard high for defence. He had a fine amateur career which saw him beat and lose to Gervonta Davis and also competed in the World Series of Boxing.
Prediction…
Navarrete loves to keep busy and he’s always in top shape and when you add his power into the equation he’s quite a handful and tough to beat. He did struggle a bit against Ruben Villa though and could do the same against Gonzalez. This could be the champion’s toughest contest to date but I think he’s got enough in the tank to just get past Gonzalez.
