Three-division world champion Emanuel “Vaquero” Navarrete is ready for an all-Mexican war.
Navarrete puts his WBO junior lightweight world title on the line against former two-division world champion Oscar Valdez on Saturday, August 12, at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona.
Navarrete-Valdez, Raymond Muratalla-Diego Torres and Richard Torrez Jr.-Willie Jake Jr. will be broadcast live on ESPN, ESPN Deportes and ESPN+ at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT.
Promoted by Top Rank, tickets are on sale now at Ticketmaster.com.
Navarrete (37-1, 31 KOs), the fighting pride of San Juan Zitlaltepec, captured the WBO junior featherweight world title by defeating Isaac Dogboe in December 2018. After five defenses, he moved up to featherweight and defeated Ruben Villa for the vacant WBO title in October 2020. The 28-year-old defended his crown against Christopher Diaz, Joet Gonzalez, and Eduardo Baez. In February, he became a three-division world champion with a ninth-round knockout victory over Liam Wilson.
Valdez (31-1, 23 KOs), from Nogales, represented Mexico at the 2008 and 2012 Olympics. The 32-year-old captured his first world title in July 2016 with a second-round stoppage win over Matias Rueda. In February 2021, he became a two-division world champion with a 10th-round knockout against Miguel Berchelt. Valdez suffered his first loss to Shakur Stevenson in April 2022 and is coming off a unanimous decision victory against Adam Lopez in May.
After a recent training session at The BXNG Club in San Diego, this is what Navarrete said:
"The training camp has been intense. The preparation was very tough. Fortunately, we were able to carry it out quite well. I had always done things in a conventional way, but now we have included a physical trainer, Francisco Javier Orozco. This fight with Valdez merited that change, and I will come into this fight much better physically."
"Winning this fight would boost my career significantly. Personally, I would feel complete. What has been missing in my career is precisely a victory against someone like Valdez. It would fill me with pride to be part of such an iconic fight between Mexicans and come out victorious."
"People know that I throw a lot of punches and that I’m always in attractive fights. Now, with Valdez, I believe it will be twice as spectacular. Valdez is a fighter who doesn't hold back. We always see him moving forward and throwing punches."
"He says he's going to knock my head off, but let's see whose head comes off first. Let's see what Valdez has to offer, and let's see how much he can endure and how much I can endure, too."