Navarrete vs Valdez 2: Espinoza-Ramirez co-feature steals the show?

Oscar Valdez says it is the “biggest fight of his life” in his rematch against WBO featherweight champion Emanuel Navarrete this Saturday night, December 7th.

(Credit: Top Rank)

Valdez (32-2, 24 KOs) has not been competitive, losing a 12-round unanimous decision to Navarrete a year ago on August 12th. Former two-division world champion Valdez fought as well as he could, but his punches did not affect ‘El Vaquero’ Navarrete (38-2-1, 31 KOs).

The matchup between WBO featherweight champion Rafael Espinoza and Robeisy Ramirez 2 should probably be the main event, as their first fight on December 9, 2023, a year ago, was one of the most exciting of the year.

Espinoza, 6’1″, pulled off a major upset, beating two-time Olympic gold medalist Robeisy with a 12-round majority decision to dethrone him of his WBO 126-lb belt. He did a good job of getting off the deck in the fifth round to come back to wear down Robeisy and drop him in the 12th to get the win.

Robeisy said in the lead up to this fight that he wasn’t at his best, but we’ll see if that’s valid. If he wins this fight and looks spectacular, you’ll have to buy his excuse for not being 100% last time.

Saturday’s Navarrete-Valdez 2 rematch takes place at the Footprint Center in Phoenix, Arizona. The event begins at 10:30 PM ET on ESPN and ESPN+.

“I feel I can do a lot more in the sport. After I lost, I went back home. I was disappointed with my performance,” said Oscar Valdez. “It’s not like other sports where you can lose and you can do better in the next season. In boxing, most people don’t want to see you again after a few losses. So, doing that fight was very important to me. This is the biggest fight of my life.”

Valdez is not saying whether or not he will retire if he loses to Navarrete. There’s no reason to because he’ll have a good chance to beat some of the other champions in the 130-lb division. It’s asking a lot of Valdez to go up against a guy as big as Navarrete because he doesn’t have the size, strength or bulk to match him.

“Now, he comes with a different method. In the first fight, I think it helped us both adjust details. Now we use the tools we extracted from the first battle. This fight, we’re going to have more experience and the same heart,” said Emanuel Navarrete.

ESPN+ Undercard at 5:30pm ET

• Lindolfo Delgado (21-0, 15 KOs) vs. Jackson Marinez (22-3, 10 KOs): Light welterweight clash scheduled for ten rounds
• Richard Torrez Jr. (11-0, 10 KOs) vs. Issac Muñoz (18-1-1, 15 KOs): Heavyweight fight for eight rounds.
• Giovani Santillan (32-1, 17 KOs) vs. Fredrick Lawson (30-5, 22 KOs): Welterweight contest scheduled for ten rounds.