Emanuel Navarrete-Rafael Espinoza is on promoters' wish list
Whether they get to it next or not is still to be determined, but what’s foremost on the minds of the men who promote Mexico world titleholders Emanuel Navarrete and Rafael Espinoza is that they must fight each other.
“That’s the fight that gets my blood stirring most,” Top Rank President Todd DuBoef told BoxingScene on Monday following the pair’s sixth-round victories at Phoenix’s Footprint Center.
WBO junior lightweight titlist Navarrete, 39-2-1 (32 KOs), knocked out former two-division belt holder Oscar Valdez after dropping him twice earlier in the main event, while WBO featherweight titleholder Espinoza, 26-0 (22 KOs), scored a TKO of Cuba’s Robeisy Ramirez, who waved off further participation, citing double vision, after getting punched directly in the right eye by an Espinoza right hand.
An examination found Ramirez suffered a fractured orbital bone.
Espinoza said after Saturday’s victory that he is open to unifications against fellow featherweight belt holders Angelo Leo, Brandon Figueroa or Nick Ball, but, at 6ft 1in, he could also easily move up to 130lbs and meet Navarrete, whose massive 72in reach is actually just 2in shorter than Espinoza’s.
“It’d be a tremendously huge Mexican fight,” Top Rank Chairman Bob Arum said.
DuBoef and Mexico’s Fernando Beltran, who promotes both Espinoza and Navarrete, each projected Navarrete-Espinoza as a modern-day version of the classic Marco Antonio Barrera-Erik Morales trilogy.
While Guadalajara’s Barrera and Tijuana’s Morales disdained each other during their series, Navarrete and Espinoza took photos, smiling together with their arms around each other late Saturday night in Phoenix.
“They’re not friends,” Beltran clarified. “They know each other. They don’t get lunch together like friends do.”
Arum, 93, said he’ll “reconvene” on both fighters’ futures early next year after likely attending bouts in Tijuana (headlined by Jaime Munguia), Saudi Arabia (Tyson Fury-Oleksandr Usyk) and Tokyo (Naoya Inoue-Sam Goodman) over a stretch from December 14-24.
Navarrete could explore unifications, too, particularly one against repeat WBC junior lightweight titlist O’Shaquie Foster, who is promoted by Top Rank and attended Saturday’s card.
Yet the support for the Navarrete and Espinoza fight card in Phoenix proves what the promoters believe, that pairing them against each other would thrill the masses.
“Navarrete could decide he wants the biggest fight, one that reminds us of Morales-Barrera – and that’s much bigger than a Foster fight,” Beltran said.
And just for good measure, he wanted to offer a reminder.
“They’re not friends,” Beltran said.
Lance Pugmire has been a full-time boxing writer for nearly 20 years, serving now as BoxingScene’s U.S. Senior Writer and assistant producer for ProBoxTV’s “BoxingScene Today.” Pugmire capped a near 20-year career at the Los Angeles Times (sports investigations, NHL/MLB beat work, law enforcement/courts and boxing/UFC) to join The Athletic, and then USA Today. Pugmire’s stint at The Times started with the first Israel Vazquez-Rafael Marquez fight and the Oscar De La Hoya-Floyd Mayweather Jnr then-record pay-per-view, leading through a slew of ringside assignments at major bouts, including Mayweather-Pacquiao, Mayweather-Canelo and the Canelo-Golovkin trilogy. Lance’s appreciation for boxing is rooted in his admiration and appreciation for the fighters, gladiators who have proven to be the most forthcoming and candid of all the athletes he has interviewed over a career dating to 1990. Lance was honored to be named the 2022 winner of the Boxing Writers Association of America Nat Fleischer Award for career excellence and he’s collected many BWAA writing awards in categories ranging from breaking news to deep-dive long features.
