Via Chris Williams: WBC/WBO super featherweight champions Shakur Stevenson and Emmanuel Navarrete are in talks to fight this summer in August or September on ESPN.
News of the war between Stevenson and Navarrete was reported by ESPN Knockoff.
It will be Shakur’s first match unbeaten since his 12-round unanimous decision against WBC champion Oscar Valdez on April 30.
If Stevenson (18-0.9 KOs) is going to stick with the 130-lb division a little longer, fighting Navarrete is the most marketable fight for him.
It’s not worth it for Shakur and his supporters in High Rank to bother pouring their energy/time into becoming the undisputed champion at featherweight super-weapon by beating the IBF champion Joe Cordina and WBA champion Roger Gutierrez.
Those men aren’t household names in the United States, and the only people who want to see Stevenson fight one of those lesser-known belt-holders are die-hard boxing fans.
Heavyweight fans usually love to see Stevenson move to 135 so he can face undisputed lightweight champion Devin Haney, WBA ‘regular’ belt holder Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis, Vasyl Lomachenko , or social media star Ryan Garcia.
There’s a lot more to Shakur to earn at 135 than at 130, spinning his wheel battling obscure paper champions US fans have never heard of.
Navarrete (35-1, 19 KOs) was having a dominant performance, defeating No. 1 WBO contender Joet Gonzalez by 12-round unanimous decision last October on ESPN in San Diego, California. .
Navarrete fractured Joet .’s right orbital bone in the second round of that fight with a crunchy right hand. From that point on, Gonzalez fought bravely through the pain, being hit repeatedly by Navarrete for the next ten rounds.
Gonzalez showed a lot of tenacity to hang on until the bitter end without conceding in his corner, which he probably should have since he didn’t get a chance to score. ahead of the dominant Navarrete.
Stevenson won’t have an easy time against Navarrete because he is more of an offensive mover than Oscar Valdez and the others he has fought with in the professional ranks.
Of the boxers that 2016 Olympic silver medalist Stevenson has fought with so far in his five-year professional career, Navarrete poses the greatest risk to him due to his high work speed, strength, and endurance. strong and aggressive style.
Navarrete has won world titles in super bantamweight and featherweight. He first rose to fame in 2018, unexpectedly defeating 122-lb WBO champion Isaac Dogboe by a 12-round unanimous decision.
To show that his win wasn’t a fluke, Navarrete returned five months later and stopped Dogboe in round 12 in their rematch in May 2019.
Navarrete then successfully defended his WBO super bantamweight title four more times before moving up to featherweight for the WBO belt with a unanimous 12-round decision against highly technical Ruben Villa in October 2020.
