Emanuel Navarrete had to work damn hard to do it, but he retained his WBO featherweight title with a decision win over Joet Gonzalez in tonight’s ESPN+ main event from San Diego.
Navarrete won on scores of 116-112, 116-112, and 118-110. Bad Left Hook scored the fight 116-112 for Navarrete, and while some of the early reaction is that 118-110 was too wide, it seems a defensible enough card, with due respect to the incredible effort Gonzalez put in.
Gonzalez (24-2, 14 KO) gave Navarrete (35-1, 29 KO) a hard, rugged fight tonight, but it never felt like the challenger picked up the sort of momentum he really needed. His right eye was a mess after the fight, near Pawel Wolak levels (if you know, you know), but he just kept coming at Navarrete all night, doing his best to disrupt the awkward rhythms that have made “El Vaquero” so successful the last few years.
It’s right there with Navarrete’s win over Ruben Villa in 2020 for the toughest night Navarrete has had since he exploded onto the world scene in late 2018, but in a totally different way. While Villa’s boxing skills gave Navarrete some fits, tonight it was just the determination and heart of Gonzalez, who never went away, never came close to folding, and fought his ass off for 12 rounds.
You also have to note that Gonzalez, 28, did a fair bit of roughhouse sort of stuff, let’s say. He landed a lot of low blows that referee Ray Corona all but ignored, and also was the cause of several trips and head clashes. Navarrete and his corner were aware of the head usage very early in the fight, and the low blows were a constant issue. But with Corona not really doing anything about it, you simply can’t blame Gonzalez for doing it; this is the fight game, and he was here to do anything he could to win a world title.
Navarrete showed no ill will after the fight, seemingly taking it all in stride in the heat of the moment, and showing real respect for his opponent.
“Joet exceeded expectations. He’s such a fighter, a great fighter,” Navarrete said through an interpreter. “I hurt him, but every single time, he came back. And also, he hurt me. A couple of shots he landed hurt me in the fight.”
Asked what’s next for him, Navarrete said, “It has been an exciting ride so far, and now I want to go on to the bigger fights.” When asked, he said he would be open to fighting Gonzalez again, which in all honesty doesn’t seem particularly necessary, but the boxing business continues to be utterly obsessed with rematches.
“I thought I had the win, I hurt him in the third or fourth round on a right hand,” Gonzalez said. “I thought I had it 7 rounds to 5, 8 rounds to 4. I was really surprised by that score, 118-110, but it is what it is, man. I came and did my best.”
Noting that he’s now 0-2 in world title fights, Gonzalez said he would keep going for the top level and looking to give fans great fights. “Hopefully I get another opportunity, and I’m going to continue to work.”
