A terrific unification bout is in store for the first quarter of the new year.
BoxingScene has confirmed that all terms were reached surrounding the long-discussed Eduardo “Sugar” Nunez-Emanuel Navarrete IBF/WBO 130lbs unification bout. The fan-friendly, all-Mexico matchup will headline a March 7 DAZN show from Mortgage Matchup Center, home to the NBA’s Phoenix Suns.
Ring Magazine was the first to report a deal had been finalized.
The update comes barely 24 hours after both sides were issued a 15-day deadline by the WBO to reach a deal, as reported Thursday by BoxingScene. An agreement between the involved parties wasn’t an issue so much as it was providing a compensatory package for the Philippines’ Charly Suarez, who was owed a mandatory rematch with Navarrete.
Top Rank promotes both Navarrete and Suarez, while Nunez is with Matchroom Boxing and BXSTRS. Both sides provided the WBO with an update on Thursday during the ratings portion of the sanctioning body’s 38th annual convention in Bogota, Colombia.
Navarrete, 39-2-1 (32 KOs), was initially awarded a technical decision win over Suarez, 18-0 (10 KOs), in their May 10 meeting in San Diego. The manner in which the fight ended sparked immediate debate, particularly from Suarez’s team, which argued that its fighter was cheated out of a stoppage win that would have earned him the WBO 130lbs title.
An appeal was filed by Suarez, who successfully had the verdict nullified upon review from the California State Athletic Commission during a June meeting. The bout was changed to a no-contest, a small victory for Suarez in the absence of the actual one he was denied.
An immediate rematch was ordered soon thereafter by the WBO, though weeks went by without any real update. It later surfaced that Navarrete turned his attention to Nunez, 29-1 (27 KOs), shortly after the latter’s decision win over Christopher Diaz on September 6 in his hometown of Los Mochis, Mexico.
The fight was able to finally move forward on Friday, once Suarez’s team was satisfied with the undisclosed terms of his step-aside deal.
Nunez lodged the first defense of the IBF title with that win, less than four months after he outpointed Masanori Rikiishi on May 28 in Yokohama, Japan.
A unification bout was long sought by Navarrete, a three-division titleholder who was denied the opportunity at 122lbs and 126lbs. His current reign seemed resigned to the same fate until Top Rank and Matchroom huddled to discuss the possibility of this fight.
Navarrete has tremendous ties to the greater Phoenix area.
His WBO 130lbs title win and first defense both took place at Desert Diamond Arena in nearby Glendale. He rose from the deck to stop Liam Wilson in the ninth-round of their February 2023 thriller and then outpointed former two-division champ Oscar Valdez over 12 rounds in August 2023.
Navarrete will now fight at this venue for the second time. His previous appearance came in his one-sided rematch with Valdez, whom he stopped in the sixth round of their December 7 clash at what was then known as Footprint Center.
The venue was renamed in early October to Mortgage Matchup Center. The partnership is through United Wholesale Mortgage, whose CEO Mat Ishiba is also the owner of the Suns and the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury.
Navarrete will now have the privilege of headlining the building’s two most recent boxing events. The arena – which was known simply as PHX Arena in between sponsor name changes – did not host any boxing cards in 2025 after providing three the year prior. Six months before the Navarrete-Valdez rematch, Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez became a two-time 115lbs champion with his off-the-canvas, seventh-round knockout of then lineal and WBC champ Juan Francisco Estrada last June 29.
