Oscar Valdez will likely be out to avenge his earlier loss when he takes on Emanuel Navarrete in a WBO tremendous featherweight title struggle in a rematch this Saturday, December seventh, on the Footprint Heart in Phoenix, Arizona.
(Credit score: High Rank)
Valdez (32-2, 24 KOs) says he’s gotten over shedding to ‘Vaquero’ Navarrete (38-2-1, 31 KOs) in a one-sided 12-round unanimous determination final yr on August twelfth. He claims that he had an amazing camp going into the matchup, which made the loss a lot harder to cope with mentally.
Navarrete’s Decline
Valdez is catching Navarrete on the proper second in his profession. He has regarded horrible in his final two fights and reveals severe indicators of being over the hill. He’s solely 29, however he seems a lot older, making one marvel if he’s been burning the candle on each ends between fights. He wouldn’t be the primary fighter who wrecked his profession by residing it up between matches and never staying devoted.
The cussed weight that has settled round Navarrete’s once-trim midsection indicators that he’s not residing life in between fights. Together with his rising intestine, he seems nearly like a retired fighter, and he doesn’t look youthful anymore, both.
No matter Vaquero has been consuming, it’s sticking to his ribs and slowing him down. What he wanted was a boot camp the place he was tortured, and meals have been regulated.
Navarrete-Valdez 2 occasion will likely be proven at 10:30 p.m. ET/ 7:30 p.m. PT on ESPN and ESPN+. Within the co-feature, WBO featherweight champion Rafael Espinoza faces former champ Robeisy Ramirez in a rematch that might take the limelight away from the principle occasion in the event that they placed on one other efficiency like of their conflict final yr on December ninth.
Valdez hasn’t given any hints about what he’ll do within the rematch to get the victory, as he tried all the pieces final time, however Navarrete had an excessive amount of energy and dimension for him. That won’t change for the rematch except Valdez has gained power.
One factor Valdez, 33, has going for him is that Navarrete is coming off a 12-round cut up determination loss to Denys Berinchyk on Could 18th in a failed bid to win the vacant WBO light-weight title.
The 2012 Ukrainian Olympian Berinchyk completely schooled Navarrete, beating him on the within and outdoors and making him seem like a novice. Navarrete regarded flabby, gradual, and never well-trained. If he seems like that in opposition to Valdez, he’s going to lose.
Valdez Desires Revenge
“You could possibly see at 135, he didn’t seem like a strong 135. I don’t doubt he makes weight,” mentioned Oscar Valdez to Battle Hub TV when requested if he questions whether or not Emanuel Navarrete will make the 130-lb restrict for his or her struggle this Saturday night time.
“I don’t purchase into that one bit. I can’t practice anticipating that,” mentioned Valdez about whether or not ‘Vaquero’ Navarrete is exhibiting indicators of decay. “I’ve to coach for the very best model of Vaquero. I already stepped foot into the ring with him. I already know what it’s like.
“Now, it’s a unique recreation plan, a unique mindset. More often than not that you simply get a rematch, it was an in depth struggle, and I admit it wasn’t a really shut struggle. It was a one-sided struggle.
“Once I fought Liam Wilson, it was a career-defining struggle. If I misplaced that struggle, most definitely, I wouldn’t be right here proper now. So, the truth that I gained that struggle, it was my ticket as a result of after that struggle,” mentioned Valdez.
Valdez stored his profession alive with a seventh-round knockout win over Liam Wilson on March twenty ninth. That was an amazing efficiency from Valdez, however he was going through a weak man, who had been knocked out within the ninth spherical by Navarrete final yr on February third.
“I began listening to increasingly more a couple of rematch [with Navarrete]. I wasn’t pondering a lot of it till I bought the cellphone name. ‘Are you keen to take the struggle?’” mentioned Valdez.
“My fast response was, ‘Hell, yeah. Vamanos, let’s take it.’ What I’m going to do is reap the benefits of it and be taught from my errors. I used to be anticipated to win that struggle as a result of I had an amazing camp. Shedding, it was onerous to return to coach. It was onerous to take care of that very same starvation that I’d at all times had,” mentioned Valdez.
Final yr, on August twelfth, Navarrete beat Vadez by the scores of 119-109, 118-110, and 116-112. Navarrete has NOT regarded good in his two fights since, being gifted a 12-round draw in opposition to Robson Conceicao on November sixteenth, 2023, after which shedding to Berinchyk.
You have a look at these two fights occurring back-to-back for Navarrete; the one conclusion you possibly can draw is that he’s exhibiting indicators of decline. He did look flabby across the midsection in each fights, and that implies that he’s been having fun with the cash he’s made. He’s clearly rich, and when fighters make some huge cash, it’s onerous not for them to take pleasure in it by consuming.
