NEW YORK (July 22, 2021) – Friday night at the Heartland Events Center in Grand Island, Nebraska, top featherweight prospect David Navarro returns to action in a six-round bout against Jayron Santiago Lopez.
Navarro (2-1, 2 KOs) will be making his first appearance in the ring since his controversial loss to Diuhl Olguin on March 10th at the Mohegan Sun Arena. In that bout, Navarro was comfortably ahead before suffering a cut late in the 5th round by what appeared to be a non-punch. The fight was ultimately stopped by the ringside doctor with 20 seconds remaining in the final frame, with Navarro winning fourteen out of a possible fifteen rounds on the judges scorecards to that point.
The result of the bout was formally protested to the Mohegan Sun Commission, but the result stood.
Still just 21 years old, Navarro began training in the sport at the age of five and left behind his childhood long endeavor of becoming an Olympian to enter the professional ranks. During his time in the amateurs, David won 15 National titles and competed in over 170 amateur bouts. Navarro was one of only eight boxers in his weight division to compete for a spot on Team USA’s Olympic squad at the 2020 Olympic Trials. During the 10-day event, he made it all the way to the finals by upsetting top seed Duke Ragan and in January was named as an Olympic Alternate for the 2020 Olympics, now rescheduled to take place in 2021.
The Boyle Heights, Los Angeles native’s return to the ring will take place before the 20th anniversary ShoBox: The New Generation card on SHOWTIME, with Navarro’s Split-T Management stablemates Isaiah Steen and Janelson Figueroa Bocachica featured on the televised portion of the show. (9 PM ET / 6 PT)
Navarro weighed in Thursday afternoon at 127.5 lbs while his opponent, Santiago Lopez of Bayamon, Puerto Rico (7-7, 5 KOs), weighed in at an even 129 lbs.
