By Norm Frauenheim
It’s rematch with a chance at becoming a rivalry.
Emanuel Navarrete-Oscar Valdez 2 on Dec. 7 in Phoenix was never envisioned after Navarrete won a decision as punishing as it was one-sided on the scorecards 15 months ago.
Then, Valdez left the ring in nearby Glendale, tears mixing with blood that poured from a right eye swollen shut into a grotesque mess by a fractured orbital bone. Then, Valdez’ many fans in southern Arizona and Mexico’s northern Sonora only hoped he would recover from a night, a fight, shocking for its mix of violence and drama. Applause mixed with prayers like the blood and tears.
Despite the pain, Valdez knew his fans were there. Knew what they were thinking. Despite the anguish, he apologized.
“I’m sorry I disappointed everyone,’’ he said then at Desert Diamond Arena. “I feel terrible. I wanted to give you all a great fight. I hope you enjoyed the fight. I hope to return strong.’’
He did return. He finished Australian Liam Wilson in a dominant seventh-round stoppage last March, also in Glendale. Then, he didn’t know that a Navarrete rematch was even a remote possibility.
Navarrete had gone on to defend his junior-lightweight title with a victory over Brazilian Robson Conceicao and was planning on a move up the scale to lightweight in a bid for a fourth division title against Ukrainian Denys Berinchyk in San Diego in May.
The expectation was that Navarrete would win and vacate his junior-lightweight title, which would then belong to Valdez. Instead he lost and decided to stay at 130 pounds, prompting the World Boxing Organization to order in July what had been an unlikely rematch.
Like so much else in boxing, expectations are just another glass jaw. This time, they were shattered by Berinchyk scoring an upset, winning a split decision over Navarrete, who delivered a dull performance just months after fans and media were asking him whether he thought he had a chance against Shakur Stevenson. He doesn’t.
For now, however, the only relevant question is whether Valdez has any chance in his second opportunity against Navarrete, this time in downtown Phoenix on the Suns home floor at Footprint Center. Valdez, a 118-110, 119-109, 116-112 loser in the first fight, says he does.
Above all, he talks as if he’s anxious to walk back into harm’s way for a chance to genuinely win the title in the ring instead of acquiring it through a mere paper shuffle.
Had Valdez been elevated to the WBO’s 130-pound champion because of a Navarrete move up the scale in the wake of a 135-pound victory over Berinchyk, Valdez would have been dismissed as just another E-mail champ. That’s a long way from the blood and guts that have been there throughout his career. Remember Scott Quigg?
In March 2018 on a rain-swept night in an outdoor ring in Carson, Calif, a heavier Quigg, who fought despite missing weight, broke Valdez’ jaw midway through the 12 rounds. Valdez fought through it, winning a unanimous decision. After it was all over, the persistent rain had washed away the dirt and debris.
But the rain did not — perhaps could not — wash away a stain in the corner of the canvas where Valdez sat and spit up blood between rounds.
After it was all over, the fight’s winner was strapped onto a board like an accident victim, placed into the back of an ambulance and taken to a nearby hospital. He’s that kind of fighter. Down, but never finished.
He endures. You can bust up his eye. Break his jaw. But that will remains intact, seemingly unbreakable. At least, it has. There’s a lingering question about how much more punishment the resilient Valdez can absorb. He’ll turn 34 on Dec. 22, a few weeks after the Navarrete rematch.
That inevitable question will be there, and it’s one the 29-year-old Navarrete figures to test repeatedly with his many-angled array of punches. Valdez, still a serious enough student of the game to know not to waste a lesson, promises to be more prepared the second time around.
“I think my game plan was just off, because I left the game plan and was just looking for that one shot,’’ Valdez told Fight Hype TV from his San Diego training camp last week. “The fans were there, and they were enjoying it. It was loud and I wanted to please the crowd and go for that one-shot knockout. And it did not work, especially with a fighter like Navarrete.
“So, now we’re going back looking at the fight, looking at film and watching the fight. Like I said, I made a lot of mistakes.
“So, we’re training, day-by-day, trying to get better and become just a better fighter, be the smarter fighter inside the ring and win in general. Everybody knows we lost our first fight, which was devastating for me because I thought I was 100 per cent gonna win that fight.
“I feel blessed. I feel blessed to have the opportunity again, but I’m more focused than ever because I’ve faced him already. I know what he’s got. I know his advantages. It’s for a championship belt, and it means everything to me.”
Navarrete, inconsistent over the last couple of years, goes into the rematch favored. The oddsmakers haven’t forgotten the first fight, either.
A Valdez victory just seems unlikely. Then again, so was a Valdez victory over Miguel Berchelt in February 2021. Valdez knocked out Berchelt, then feared and unbeaten, in the 10th round. The Berchelt stunner and Valdez’ dominance of Wilson are signs he might be able to spring another surprise. Many believe Wilson was robbed of victory over Navarrete in a controversial fourth-round knockdown in Glendale in February 2023. Navarrete got up and survived, winning a ninth-round stoppage.
There are questions about whether Navarrete simply overlooked the unknown Aussie. Yet, there are also questions as to whether he still has the energy to throw his many-angled punches with the same degree precision, all at a whirlwind rate.
If Valdez can summon up counters to the energy, precision, angles and work-rate, he might have a bigger answer to whether the fight is just another sequel or a rematch turned into a true rivalry.
NOTES
Valdez, A Mexican Olympian born in Nogales who went to school in Tucson, will be fighting In the Phoenix area for the third straight time.
Navarrete will fight in Phoenix for the third time in his last five bouts.
