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Emanuel Navarrete was nowhere close to at his finest. The WBO featherweight world titlist seemed rusty after 10 months out of the ring. He had a brutal weight lower. And he had a decided opponent in Mexican countryman Eduardo Baez in entrance of him on Saturday evening.
After the fifth spherical, Navarrete’s coach, his uncle Pedro Navarrete, knew the struggle was getting away from him and there was urgency. He let him know that he wanted to select issues up.
Navarrete listened — and, boy, did he pay attention properly.
He went out within the sixth spherical and landed a paralyzing left hook to the physique for a one-punch knockout to retain his 126-pound title for the third time in the primary occasion of the Top Rank Boxing on ESPN card at Pechanga Arena in San Diego.
JUST LIKE THAT 🤠#NavarreteBaez pic.twitter.com/dFiLtyPWoO
— Prime Rank Boxing (@trboxing) August 21, 2022
“I anticipated a struggle like this,” Navarrete mentioned via an interpreter. “I by no means underestimated Eduardo Baez. I knew that he was a superb fighter and the truth that he hit fairly onerous. It was much more sophisticated than I anticipated. However then got here that shot, and I used to be in a position to end him.”
Baez didn’t seem have an entire lot of steam on his punches, however he landed sufficient to present Navarrete (36-1, 30 KOs), 27, all types of issues. Baez additionally was outboxing Navarrete and confirmed toughness in opposition to an clearly rusty Navarrete, who didn’t seem like in ultimate situation.
Going into the sixth spherical, Baez was forward 50-45 on decide Zachary Younger’s card and 48-47 Lou Moret’s, however Pat Russell extremely had Navarrete main 49-46, which appeared wildly off base.
However Navarrete, a former junior featherweight titlist earlier than vacating to maneuver up in weight, made all of it irrelevant within the sixth spherical when he fired a proper uppercut and adopted with a brutal left hook to Baez’s liver. He took a step again and went down to 1 knee in agony on a delayed response.
Baez remained immobile on his knee as referee Jack Reiss counted him out at 1 minute, 5 seconds. After Reiss waved off the struggle, Baez fell to all fours after which fell over onto his again as he tried to shake off the plain ache from the punch.
“That’s a really Mexican punch,” Navarrete mentioned of the physique blow. “It comes with my blood. And you’ll see, I don’t throw an ideal left hook such as you’re used to seeing. However this one got here out excellent for me. And also you noticed the end result as a result of not many guys can take that shot.”
The struggle was the primary for Navarrete under a new multi-year deal he signed with co-promoter Top Rank. Given the problem of creating weight there’s a probability Navarrete will transfer as much as the 130-pound junior light-weight division subsequent.
There are main fights Prime Rank can supply him, together with in opposition to unified champion Shakur Stevenson or former titlist Oscar Valdez. Prime Rank chairman Bob Arum has been vocal about his curiosity in matching Valdez and Navarrete.
Navarrete mentioned he has not determined what he’ll do however admitted he had a tough time making weight.
“I’m not going to disclaim these 10 months away from the ring made it powerful for me. On the finish of the day, coming down and melting myself to 126 kilos was troublesome,” Navarrete mentioned.
Baez (21-3-2, 7 KOs), 26, dropped to 1-2 in his final three fights, having misplaced a majority determination to junior featherweight contender Ra’eese Aleem in November 2021 earlier than rebounding for a majority determination over Jose Vivas on March 26 on a Prime Rank undercard.
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