REIGNING WBO super-featherweight world champion, Emanuel Navarrete is finally eyeing up a maiden career unification bout, over six years since he first became a world champion.
With his fellow 130lb titleholders in his sights, Navarrete, 39-2-1 (32 KOs), will begin 2025 with a mandatory title defence against former Olympian Charly Suarez on May 10.
‘Vaquero’ twice defeated Isaac Dogboe to win and then defend the WBO strap as a super-bantamweight and has remained close with the sanctioning body since, fighting in 15 WBO title bouts but never for WBC, WBA or IBF honours.
That run has seen Navarrete become a three-division world champion with a combined 11 defences of the WBO marbles. He came up short, however, against Denys Berinchyk in a bid to win the WBO lightweight title last year.
The San Juan Zitlaltepec-born fighter has since returned to super-featherweight and scored an impressive knockout win in a rematch with Oscar Valdez back in December, halting his fellow Mexican in the sixth round.
Now the front-footed 30-year-old is set to face a less familiar contender, as Fight Freaks Unite’s Dan Rafael reports that Navarrete will collide with the unbeaten Suarez, 18-0 (10 KOs), who represented the Philippines at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
At 36-years-old, Suarez is yet to face true world level opposition but claimed the WBO International bauble in a career-best third-round stoppage of Jorge Castaneda last time out to reach the summit of the WBO rankings and later become mandatory challenger for Navarrete.
Despite his inexperience against opposition such as Navarrete, Suarez can be expected to provide a stern test for the champion, who will need to be on his A-game to avoid the upset before he can focus on plans for a potential unification clash against WBC champion O’Shaquie Foster, 23-3 (12 KOs).
On the undercard the long-awaited meeting between Raymond Muratalla, 22-0 (17 KOs), and Zaur Abdullaev, 20-1 (12 KOs), finally takes place and makes for an intriguing match-up with the IBF Interim lightweight title up for grabs.
With current IBF champion Vasyl Lomachenko out of action, the victor of Muratalla-Abdullaev may well be later upgraded to full IBF lightweight champion, making their encounter on this Saturday, May 10 bill in San Diego all the more significant.
