By Francisco Salazar
Emanuel Navarrete last lost almost six years ago when he was 17 years of age. Navarrete has come a long way since that four-round decision loss, inching his way closer to a world title shot.
That dream will come true should he defeat Jose Sanmartin Saturday night at the Arena Jose Sulaiman in Monterrey, Mexico. The 10-round bout will air on beIN Sports en Espanol (11 p.m. ET/ 8 p.m. PT).
Navarrete and Sanmartin will be fighting for an interim world title belt and the right to be the mandatory challenger of the WBA junior featherweight title, which Danny Roman will defend against Moises Flores on June 16.
The 23-year-old Navarrete (24-1, 21 knockouts), who resides in the Mexico City area, will be fighting in his first scheduled 12 round bout.
In his last bout on Mar. 10, Navarrete stopped Breilor Teran of Colombia in the fourth round. The victory over Teran marked Navarrete’s seven consecutive win by knockout.
Navarrete’s most impressive win to date was a second-round knockout over former bantamweight contender Glenn Porras on Jan. 20. He is ranked number two by the WBA and the WBO.
Sanmartin (26-4-1, 17 KOs), who lives in Barranquilla, Colombia, has won his last six bouts. Sanmartin’s most notable bouts were a disqualification loss to former world junior bantamweight titleholder Tomas Rojas in August of 2016 and a decision loss to featherweight contender Carlos Zambrano in August 2015.
Sanmartin is ranked number 12 by the WBA.
Opening the beIN Sports en Espanol telecast will be a 10-round junior flyweight bout between Daniel Valladares (16-1, 10 KOs) and Adrian Curiel (10-0, 3 KOs).
Zanfer Promotions will promote both fights, which will air live throughout Mexico on Azteca TV.
Francisco A. Salazar has written for Boxingscene.com since September of 2012 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (Calif.) Star newspaper. He can be reached by email at santio89@yahoo.com or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing
