Via Mark Eisner: Emanuel Navarrete will be in action tonight against Liam Wilson, the tough #3 in the battle for the vacant WBO lightweight belt in the Top Rated card live on ESPN, ESPN Deportes and ESPN+ from the Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona. The main part of the event begins at 10:00 p.m. ET.
11-year pro Navarrete (36-1, 30 KOs) will try to win his third world championship against a virtual unknown, Wilson (11-1, 7 KOs), who may need a miracle to win tonight.
Boxing News 24 will update live & the results of the action in tonight’s card on ESPN.
- mid-tier outlook Nico Ali Walsh (8-0.5 KO), grandson of Muhammad Ali, beat a game Eduardo Ayala (9-3-1, 3 KOs) by a unanimous decision of six rounds. Nico, 22, knocked out Ayala with a large right hand in the second round. However, Ayala fought hard and landed multiple right and left hooks on Nico, whose defense was his offense. He didn’t block anything in the fight. Between the fifth and sixth rounds, Nico’s coach asked him to stop headhunting and focus on throwing bodies. In recognition of his credit, Nico followed his coach’s instructions in the letter and put up a good fight in the sixth round, knocking out Ayala with powerful body blows. The scores were 60-53, 59-54 and 59-54. Nico has a nice right hand, but his defense is really terrible. He doesn’t move his head and is there to get hit. At this point, it’s hard to imagine Nico ever winning a world title. If his promoter aligns with him in a similar way to the famous lightweight Ryan Garcia, he can build an undefeated record and possibly get lucky by making millions in a single hit fight. money with one of the big names. If Nico focuses on social media like Ryan Garcia did to win big money in a match against Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis, then he can build a huge following and that will increase. the chance he will one day get a big buck in the fight against one of the stars.
- Unbeatable lightweight Lindolfo Delgado (17-0, 13 KO) defeated Clarence’s booth (21-7, 13 KOs) by unanimous decision eight rounds. Delgado defeated Booth in round 1/8. The judges’ scores were 80-71, 79-72 and 79-72 wins.
- mild outlook Emiliano Vargas (2-0, 2 KO) defeated Francisco Duque (1-1) equals four decisive innings with scores of 40-36, 40-36 and 40-36.
With 28-year-old Navarrete moving into a new weight class at 130, it wouldn’t be a huge shock if he struggled with Wilson’s size and heavy hand and ended up losing.
Supplementary Card:
Arnold Barboza Jr vs Jose Pedraza
Richard Torrez Jr vs James Bryant
Andres Cortes vs Luis Melendez
Nico Ali Walsh vs Eduardo Ayala
Lindolfo Delgado Pavilion vs Clarence
Emiliano Vargas vs Francisco Duque
Top ranked has assembled an excellent card, with an undefeated lightweight candidate Arnold Barboza Jr. (27-0, 10 KO) face-to-face Jose ‘Sniper’ Pedraza (29-4-1, 14 KOs) in a 10-round main support round.
In another solid match on the card, Olympic heavyweight silver medalist 2020 Richard Torrez Jr. (4-0.4 KO) against capable people James Bryant (6-2, 4 KOs) in a six-round match.
Torrez Jr, 23, has interesting style, but his poor height and reach will be what could limit him unless he can become more mobile like Oleksandr Usyk to keep out heavier opponents overwhelm him.
It was a great fight to show if Barboza could win the world title at 140. At 31, Barboza Jr is no longer young, so he must act by shining a light against Pedraza, who is starting to decline after 12 years in the league. professional ranking and a long amateur career, including competing in the 2008 Olympics.
If Barboza struggles against 33-year-old former two-category world champion Pedraza, it will be a strong sign that he will be destined for the gatekeeper position.
Of course, in this age of boxing, with so many world titles in each division, Barboza was still able to win the title in the end with the help of careful matchmaking by Top Rank. With that said, Barboza will need to really dominate tonight against veteran Pedraza for him to have a chance at winning the world championship of his career.
Navarrete’s move to 130th place clears the way for the talented Cuban twice Olympic gold medalist Robeisy Romero to claim the vacant WBO featherweight belt.
Unlike Navarrete, Romero has the quality of a star and he just needs a chance to win his first world title after turning pro in 2019.
Robeisy will fight Isaac Dogboe on April 1 for the WBO interim featherweight title. The winner of that bout, believed to be Robeisy, will likely be elevated to the full 126 lb WBO title shortly thereafter unless the World Boxing Organization decides to hold another bout for the full title. enough.
