Oscar Valdez says he has studied Emanuel Navarrete’s style and feels confident he will dethrone the WBO super featherweight champion in their rematch this Saturday, December 7, at the Footprint Center in Phoenix, Arizona.
(Credit: Top Rank)
Valdez (32-2, 24 KOs) feels he knows what he did wrong in his lopsided 12-round unanimous decision loss to Navarrete last year on August 12, 2023, and he wants to make amends this time around.
Oscar isn’t saying what his career options are if he suffers a similar one-sided loss to Navarrete (38-2-1, 31 KOs), because if he can’t win this fight, it’s hard to imagine him continuing in this one . weight class. Navarrete has looked 100% shot in three of his last four fights against these fighters:
– Denys Berinchyk: 12-SD loss
– Robson Conceicao: 12 draws (*controversial must be loss).
– Liam Wilson: TKO 9 (*Controversial. Saved from a knockout in the 4th round)
Saturday’s Navarrete-Valdez event will be shown live on ESPN and ESPN+ at 10:30 PM ET/7:30 PM PT/
Navarrete vs. Valdez scores
119-100
118-110
116-112
Valdez: “Will I be smarter?
“I have a world title fight against Emanuel Navarrete. Knowing that I made a lot of mistakes in the first fight, I can always go back and see our mistakes and train hard in the gym,” said Oscar Valdez. Sean Zittel. “I trained smart for this fight.
“Now I know what to expect. I was in the ring with him. I know he hits hard. I know he is uncomfortable. Now I go to the gym and we train specifically for this fight. The first time I went in and didn’t know what to expect or thought I knew what to expect until I stepped into that ring with him.
“Now that I know that, I’m going to be a smarter fighter in there. I thank the Lord for another opportunity to fight him, because I feel that many fighters do not get a second chance. I was one of those fighters who still has an opportunity. I feel blessed and more excited than ever,” Valdez said.
Former two-division world champion Valdez claims he didn’t study Navarrete for his previous fight, which is hard to believe. How could a 2008 and 2012 Olympian and former two-division world champion Valdez not have studied Navarrette to pick out areas he could capitalize on? Navarrete went into that fight having only lost once in his career many years ago in 2012, and he wasn’t the type of fighter anyone could overlook.
Valdez vs Navarrete Punch Statistics
– Navarrete: 216 of 1038 hits for 21%
– Valdez: 140 of 436 for 32%
“This is the battle for me. This is the fight that defines my career,” Valdez said of his rematch against ‘Vaquero’ Navarrete on Saturday night. Valdez also lost to Shakur Stevenson. So he can’t just say the Navarrete fight “defines” his career, because the loss to Shakur seemed even worse.
“This is the first time I’m going to a rematch with someone who actually beat me,” Valdez said. “It can make it more complicated because you know you were there with them, and your mind can play tricks on you and say you lost to him.
“No, I want to be an example that you can lose, but you are always bound to come back. You can do it. Just because you lost doesn’t mean you’re out. I proved that in my last fight against Liam Wilson, but I want to make an even better impression when I come back against the guy who really beat me. It wasn’t a close fight.”
Navarrete’s vulnerability
Everyone can come back, but like their previous fight last year, Valdez is going to need a very different approach to win the rematch. Navarrete has looked mushy in three of his last four fights since last year. The only fight he performed well was against Valdez. Other than that, Navarrete should have a 1-3 record in his last four fights. The judges and the referee saved him in his fight with Conceicao, and Wilson.
He lost to Denys Berinchyk in his last fight, and even in that fight he came close to winning despite it being a one-sided contest. On May 18, Berinchyk trained an out-of-shape Navarrete and beat him by a 12-round split decision in San Diego, California.
I scored it 11-1 for Berinchyk. It was completely one-sided, but I wasn’t surprised that the judges in Southern California scored it close. It was expected, but it was anything but close. Navarrete didn’t seem to miss too many meals.
“It was a one-sided fight. I want to prove that you can train and you can come back and win. I want to set that example. For me to set that example, I have to win this fight first,” Valdez said.
In their previous fight on August 12, 2023, Navarrete seemed to have too much size and power for the 5’5 1/2″ Valdez. The three guys the 5’7″ Navarete had trouble against this past year were either taller than him or the same size. Valdez and his coach, Eddy Reynoso, are going to need a better game plan because he doesn’t have the size or the strength to overpower Navarrete like Wilson, Berinchyk and Conceicao.
