Mexican three-division king Emanuel Navarrete will defend his WBO junior lightweight world championship against undefeated Filipino contender Charly Suarez.
Navarrete (39-2-1, 32 KOs) returns to the site of his narrow loss to Denys Berinchyk last May, which ended his bid to become a four-division world champion. He bounced back that December, stopping Oscar Valdez in six rounds to maintain his dominance at 130 pounds. This marks Navarrete’s 16th world title bout, a run that began with his 2018 upset of Isaac Dogboe.
Suarez (18-0, 10 KOs), a 2016 Olympian, burst onto the global scene with a 12th-round stoppage of Paul Fleming in Australia in 2023. He’s since gone 3-0 in the U.S., including a third-round knockout of Jorge Castañeda last September. Suarez aims to become the Philippines’ third reigning world champion, joining 105-pounders Melvin Jerusalem and Pedro Taduran.
In the co-feature for the vacant interim IBF lightweight world title, SoCal native Raymond Muratalla will fight Russia’s Zaur Abdullaev.
Muratalla (22-0, 17 KOs) returns to California for the first time in over two years, having risen from a first-round knockdown in 2023 to stop Humberto Galindo in nine. He’s since scored statement wins over Jeremia Nakathila, Tevin Farmer, and Jesus Perez to earn this interim world title shot. The Fontana native is one of the lightweight division’s fastest-rising contenders.
Abdullaev (20-1, 12 KOs) has reeled off nine consecutive wins since his 2019 loss to Devin Haney, including stoppages over Jorge Linares and Roman Andreev. He also owns victories over former champs Dejan Zlati?anin and Roger Gutierrez. Last October, he extended his streak with a 12th-round TKO over Juan Javier Carrasco.
The action-packed undercard begins at 5:30 p.m. ET/ 2:30 p.m. PT on ESPN+ and includes some local flavor, as San Diego-born welterweight contender Giovani Santillan (33-1, 18 KOs) looks to maintain his momentum against Angel Beltran (18-2-1, 11 KOs) in a 10-rounder.
Timothy Bradley, Jr., Mark Kriegel, and Bernardo Osuna will call the action.
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Navarrete vs. Suarez (All Times ET)
| Date | Time | Event | Fights | Title (s) | Platform |
| Thu., May 8 | 4 p.m. | Main Card Press Conference | — | — | ESPN+ |
| Fri., May 9 | 4 p.m. | Weigh-in | — | — | |
| Sat., May 10 | 10 p.m. | Main | Emanuel Navarrete (C) vs. Charly Suarez | WBO Jr. Lightweight | ESPN, ESPN Deportes,ESPN+(simulcast) |
| Co-Feature | Raymond Muratalla vs. Zaur Abdullaev | (Interim) IBF Lightweight | |||
| 5:30 p.m. | Undercard | Sammy Contreras vs. Dyllon Cervantes | ESPN+ | ||
| Undercard | Andres Cortes vs. Salvador Jimenez | ||||
| Undercard | Giovani Santillan vs. Angel Beltran | ||||
| Undercard | Perla Bazaldua vs. Mona Ward | ||||
| Undercard | Albert Gonzalez vs. Jose Guardado | ||||
| Undercard | Alan Garcia vs. Cristian Medina | ||||
| Undercard | Sebastian Hernandez vs. Azat Hovhannisyan |
