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He has what I call the most important punch in boxing: the jab. What do you need to see from unbeaten Diego Pacheco to anoint him a challenger at 168 pounds?īradley: He's still young at 20 years old and you don't need to move him quickly. At 26 and as a current champion, he's past the point in his career where he should be taking on the likes of Joet Gonzalez. Navarrete is an exciting fighter who should be matched against tougher opposition. Both Lara and Navarrete hail from Mexico. Perhaps Mauricio Lara, who made his name with a big upset win over Josh Warrington in February. There are several other names who will boost his profile and recognition around boxing. It makes little sense for Navarrete, too, since he has few high-profile opponents on his ledger. Gonzalez also has no victories over any of the featherweights currently in ESPN's top-10 ranking despite consistently fighting in the division since 2015. He was easily trounced by Shakur Stevenson in 2019, his lone title fight. To date, Gonzalez's best victory is a knockout win over Manuel Avila in 2019.īut aside from that, Gonzalez has yet to show he's worthy of a true title shot. The intrigue surrounding Gonzalez since he re-signed with Golden Boy Promotions in 2019 has not produced anything substantial. Is Joet Gonzalez a legitimate title challenger for Emanuel Navarrete?īaby: No.
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Navarrete may be raw, but the blend of volume punching, awkward angles and size has proved too much so far. How about the winner of next week's title fight between Jamel Herring and Shakur Stevenson? Or bouts with Miguel Berchelt and Chris Colbert? Even in his third weight class, he'll still be one of the bigger fighters in the division. There remains some promising challenges for Navarrete at 126 pounds, namely Gary Russell Jr., but the real tests will come at 130 pounds, and that's where we figure to find out just how good he is. His first defense was a successful one, a knockout of Christopher Diaz. In his featherweight debut - a title fight - he threw nearly 700 punches. Most of all, perhaps, Navarrete unloads with incredible volume even after moving up from 122 pounds. The 26-year-old throws shots from awkward angles and with bad intentions, too. What's Emanuel Navarrete's ceiling as a top fighter?Ĭoppinger: Navarrete is a talented fighter, a boxer who generates tremendous leverage on his punches with exceptional height for a 126-pounder at 5-foot-7. Our panel of Timothy Bradley Jr., Mike Coppinger, Mike Rothstein and Ben Baby look at these fights and some other must-see bouts this weekend. Martin (38-2, 13 KOs), is making his first appearance in the United States after fighting most of his career in his native Spain. He also has a decision victory over Jessie Vargas in February 2020. Garcia (40-1, 30 KOs), has fought only twice since his March 2019 decision loss to Errol Spence Jr. Abreu has 11 KOs in 12 fights, but the focus is on the 20-year-old Pacheco against this pressure fighter.Īlso on Saturday, former four-division champion Mikey Garcia will fight for the first time in almost 18 months - a 10-round welterweight battle against Sandro Martin.
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On Saturday in Fresno, California, super middleweight prospect Diego Pacheco returns to the ring for his third fight of 2021 to face Lucas de Abreu, an unbeaten orthodox fighter from Brazil. So, how big of a challenge is Gonzalez to a Navarrete, who hasn't lost a fight in more than nine years? He won the then-vacant featherweight title against Ruben Villa a year ago, and he defended it with a 12th-round TKO victory over Christopher Diaz in April. Navarrete (34-1, 29 KOs) won a junior featherweight world title against Isaac Dogboe in 2018 and made five defenses before moving up to the 126-pound division. His opponent Friday in San Diego is Joet Gonzalez (24-1, 14 KOs), who in 2018 took Shakur Stevenson the distance and in 2020 defeated former title contender Miguel Marriaga with a dominant performance.
#Title bout championship boxing manuel upgrade
You have reached a degraded version of because you're using an unsupported version of Internet Explorer.įor a complete experience, please upgrade or use a supported browserĬhampions and stars are back this weekend, but fights for Emanuel Navarrete and Mikey Garcia are missing somethingĪs the boxing world moves on from Tyson Fury's incredible victory over Deontay Wilder, this weekend offers a number of solid fights that include the return of some of the sport's bigger names.įight night features the second title defense for WBO featherweight champion Emanuel Navarrete.
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