Emanuel Navarrete beat Eduardo Nunez with an awkward, clobbering style on Saturday, February 28 atop a Matchroom boxing event DAZN broadcast from a well-attended Glendale venue in Arizona.
One of the finest Mexican fighters in the modern era, 31-year-old Navarrete has bludgeoned many opponents across three separate weight classes, finishing Isaac Dogboe, Joet Gonzalez, and Oscar Valdez, among others.
Against Nunez, Navarrate out-landed Nunez by a near 2:1 clip, connecting 236 times from 594 shots thrown — a 39.7% accuracy rate, against his opponent’s more modest 140 from 445 (31.5%). The volume eventually overwhelmed Nunez, who was finished in the 11th round of a fight that could, perhaps, have been stopped even sooner.
Wearing his trademark cowboy hat, ‘Vaquero’ said at the post-fight press conference that he has long wanted to “unify the division,” and was happy to have done so, adding Nunez’s IBF belt to the WBO title he won in 2023.
Other champions at 130 pounds include WBA champion Lamont Roach and WBC ruler O’Shaquie Foster.
“We know O’Shaquie Foster was here this week so that would be interesting to go completely unify the division.”
He is even open to making another push into lightweight. Navarrete attempted four-weight world champion status when he moved to 135 pounds for a vacant WBO lightweight championship bout against Denys Berinchyk, losing a split decision in 2024.
Unperterbed by the L, he wants another crack considering the WBA and WBC belts are both vacant with only Raymond Muratella holding the IBF, and Abdullah Mason championing the WBO. “There’s always the option of moving to 135 pounds,” he said.
Considering his achievements to date, and continued excellence at the upper echelons of world boxing, it has left promotional executives contemplating where he must now rank in the pound-for-pound lists.
Describing Navarrete as “an incredible fighter,” Nunez’s promoter Eddie Hearn, of Matchroom, told reporters: “I really feel he should be on the pound-for-pound list, I really do.”
Top Rank chief operating officer, Carl Moretti, agreed. Regarding his fighter, Moretti said: “I think the difference tonight was, this was his 17th world title fight. And, next to ‘Canelo’ and [Naoya] Inoue it’s probably the most in boxing right now.
“When you’re challenging for world titles in different weight classes, it shines tonight. No disrespect to Nunez, he was the biggest puncher in the division. It was a very competitive, one-sided fight. As the fight went on, he hit a second gear, counter-punching off the ropes. The length is a problem for anybody in any division, and that’s his best advantage.”
On helping Navarrete achieve his dream fight, which is against Matchroom fighter Shakur Stevenson, Hearn said: “That is a conversation for Carl and probably Shakur as well. To beat Shakur Stevenson you have to be exceptional, and cause him problems — and he has the style to cause everybody problems.”
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