Navarrete tops Gonzalez in slugfest

Retains featherweight title for 2nd time in epic fight

In an absolutely grueling and enthralling slugfest, Emanuel Navarrete just kept on punching en route to a bloody unanimous decision to retain the WBO featherweight title against mandatory challenger Joet Gonzalez.

They met in the main event of the Top Rank Boxing on ESPN+ card on Friday night before a crowd of about 3,000 at the Pechanga Arena in San Diego and by the end of the battle they were on their feet giving the warriors a standing ovation for laying their hearts out for all to see.

In the end, it was Navarrete, with his overwhelming punch output and heavier blows, who won 118-110, 116-112 and 116-112 to retain his 126-pound world title for the second time in an unforgettable fight.

“Without a doubt, Joet exceeded expectations. He’s a great fighter,” Navarrete said through an interpreter. “I think the difference was the conditioning. It was a close fight but I think the difference was the conditioning.”

Navarrete and Gonzalez had promised to “destroy each other” during the build up to the fight and they gave it their best effort to do so. Gonzalez took much more damage. His face was a cut up bloody mess and he had a mass of purple swelling under his right eye.

“It’s going to take one heck of a fighter to defeat Emanuel Navarrete,” Top Rank chairman Bob Arum said. “He’s as stubborn as they come.”

The relentless Navarrete opened a small cut under Gonzalez’s eye in the second round and by the end of the third it was in horrific shape. Cutman Mike Bazzel did a tremendous job slowing the blood and keeping the swelling down enough that Gonzalez could still see out of it, but it was in bad shape.

Even with the eye problem, Gonzalez (24-2, 14 KOs), 28, of Los Angeles, never stopped going at Navarrete (35-1, 29 KOs), 26, of Mexico, but he was ultimately outworked. According to CompuBox statistics, Navarrete landed 272 of 979 punches (28 percent) and Gonzalez connected with 169 of 667 shots (25 percent).

Gonzalez took many clean combinations but he managed to land some solid shots also, including a powerful right hand that seemed to buzz Navarrete in the final seconds of the fourth round.

“Without a doubt, I hurt him, but every single time he came back, and he also hurt me,” Navarrete said. “A couple shots he landed hurt me during the fight.”

Whenever Gonzalez would mount an offensive burst or catch Navarrete on his heels, Navarrete seemed to respond with four- and five-punch combinations. It also got a bit dirty. Gonzalez stepped on Navarrete’s foot in the eighth and 11th rounds, causing him to fall to the canvas. Gonzalez also repeatedly hit Navarrete low, eliciting a stern warning from referee Ray Corona.

They closed the show at a frenetic pace, throwing their fight-high number of punches in the 12th round — Navarrete 104 and Gonzalez 79 — before they received their well-earned standing ovation.

“It was a close fight. I thought I had the win,” Gonzalez said. “I hurt him in the third or the fourth round with a right hand. He buckled. Yeah, I thought I had the fight, I honestly did, seven rounds to five, eight rounds to four. I was really surprised by that score of 118-110. But it is what it is, and I did my best.”

It was Gonzalez’s second title shot. Two fights ago, he lost a near-shutout decision to Shakur Stevenson for the then-vacant WBO belt in October 2019. In that fight he was easily outboxed. Against Navarrete, he was outslugged. So what’s next?

“Back to the gym, man, just keep working,” Gonzalez said. “Try to fight the best fighters and try to give the fans a great fight and, hopefully, I get another (title) opportunity. I’ll continue to work.”

Navarrete, who made five junior featherweight title defenses before moving up in weight in 2020 and winning the vacant featherweight belt by close decision over Ruben Villa last October, hopes the victory over Gonzalez will pave the way to a bigger fight. That could mean a move up to junior lightweight, where there are more well known names, including Top Rank stablemate, Mexican countryman and WBC titlist Oscar Valdez.

“It has been an exciting ride so far, and from now on, I want the bigger fights,” Navarrete said. “Without a doubt, I would give Gonzalez a rematch as well.”

Photos: Mikey Williams/Top Rank

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