Emmanuel Navarrete defeated Oscar Valdez in a rematch on Saturday night.
The precise, aggressive Navarrete impressed in his return to the 130-pound division, crushing Valdez to the head and body in the main event of a 10-fight card at the Footprint Center in Phoenix. Navarrete dropped Valdez in the first, fourth and sixth rounds to become the first opponent to stop the former two-division champion at the distance.
Navarrete's left to the body from Valdez dropped him a third time with 30 seconds on the clock in the sixth round. Referee Raul Cais Jr. counted him out at 2:42 of the sixth round.
Mexico's Navarrete (39-2-1, 32 KOs) retained his WBO junior lightweight title by beating the ever-brave Valdez into submission. Navarrete rebounded from a 12-round decision loss to Ukraine's Denis Berynchyk in his previous bout at 135 pounds and a 12-round draw with Brazil's Robson Conceicao at 130 pounds. championship match before Bierynchyk defeated him.
Valdes (32-3, 24 KOs) lost by knockout for the first time in his 12-year, 35-fight professional career. The two-time Mexican Olympian's only losses prior to Saturday night were 12-round unanimous decision losses to Navarrete in August 2023 and Shakur Stevenson in April 2022.
Valdes, 34, was close to tears as he apologized to his fans, who had traveled from Mexico to watch the rematch in person.
“We were trying to get the win,” Valdez told ESPN's Bernardo Osuna at ringside. “We really wanted it. We trained very hard for this. I would like to say that I feel sorry for all these people who came here to see me from all over, from Sonora, from Nogales, from Phoenix. … It's a shame that I could have gotten a better result. Thank you for coming to support. Maybe next time.”
Valdez twisted his right ankle when he came off a knockdown in the first round. However, he later admitted that Navarrete was a much bigger reason for his TKO loss.
“We slipped and fell and hurt my ankle,” Valdez said. “But that's no excuse. (Navarrete) is a great champion. I take my hat off to him.”
Navarrete admitted their second fight wasn't as easy as it might make it out to be historically on boxrec.com.
“Look, Oscar Valdez was extremely strong in this fight,” Navarrete said. “And he kept going forward, so I had to stop him in his tracks and push him back. Because if you let Valdez come at you, go down, it's going to be a long night.”
The beginning of the end Saturday night came when Navarrete landed another hard left uppercut that knocked Valdez down with 1:20 left in the sixth round. Valdez tried to fight back, but Navarrete nailed him with the aforementioned left to the body, bringing the action to a screeching halt.
Navarrete's fierce onslaught continued in the fifth round. The champion caught Valdez with a variety of hard shots in those three minutes, followed by a devastating left uppercut that knocked Valdez's mouthpiece to the canvas with seconds left in the fifth round.
Navarrete's left hook knocked Valdez off balance and into the corner with just over 1:40 left in the fourth round. Valdez steadied himself before going down and did his best to make the rest of the fourth round competitive.
Just before the bell rang to end the fourth round, Navarrete landed multiple right hands on a retreating Valdez, who fell to the canvas for the second time in the fight.
After suffering a knockdown in the second round, Valdez bravely went toe-to-toe with Navarrete and connected with his share of straight punches that helped him temporarily halt Navarrete's momentum. The taller, heavier and stronger Navarrete landed a right hand to Valdez's vulnerable temple, knocking him down with gloves and knees with 25 seconds left in the first round. Navarrete looked much more effective starting this rematch than he did in his loss to Berinchik.