Notebook: Navarrete to face Wilson for vacant junior lightweight title

Parker returns on Eubank-Smith card; Dubois sidelined by knee injury; Pascal-Eifert title eliminator official; Quick hits; Show and tell

Dec 21, 2022

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Emanuel Navarrete, the WBO featherweight titleholder, will move up to junior lightweight and challenge for the vacant WBO belt in that division against Liam Wilson, Top Rank made official on Tuesday.

The fight will headline a Top Rank Boxing on ESPN tripleheader on Feb. 3 (ESPN/ESPN Deportes/ESPN+, 10 p.m. ET) at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona.

Initially, Navarrete was due to face former titlist Oscar Valdez in a fight recently approved at the WBO annual convention but Valdez suffered an undisclosed training injury that forced him out of the bout earlier this month, which paved the way for Wilson to step in. The winner would likely face Valdez next.

The WBO and WBC titles became vacant when Shakur Stevenson, who outpointed Valdez in April to unify them, failed to make the 130-pound weight limit for a defense against Robson Conceicao on Sept. 23.

In the co-feature, junior welterweight contenders Arnold Barboza Jr. and Jose Pedraza will meet in a 10-rounder.

Heavyweight Richard Torrez Jr., the 2020 U.S. Olympic super heavyweight silver medalist, will face an opponent to be determined in the six-round opener.

Navarrete (36-1, 30 KOs), 27, of Mexico, will aiming to win a world title in a third division, having held the WBO junior featherweight title before moving up in weight.

"This is my opportunity to become a three-division world champion. I am going for that crown,” Navarrete said. “Liam Wilson is a good fighter, but this is my moment, and everyone will see a much more complete ‘Vaquero’ Navarrete that has a lot of thirst for victory. My ideal weight is 130 pounds, and that will be demonstrated on Feb. 3rd when I become world champion for Mexico and San Juan Zitlaltepec. Wilson will not get in the way of my dream.”

Wilson (11-1, 7 KOs), 26, who will be fighting outside of his home country of Australia for the first time, has won two fights in a row since a fifth-round knockout loss to Joe Noynay in July 2021, including second-round knockout of Noynay in an immediate rematch in March.

“He's a champion, a warrior, and a household name around the world, but now it's my time,” Wilson said. “I'm coming to upset the parade. I've waited my entire life for this moment and I won’t let it slip because it means more to me. I swore an oath to my father on his deathbed that I would one day win a world title for him. I’m looking forward to fulfilling this promise on Feb. 3rd.”

Barboza (27-0, 10 KOs), 31, of Los Angeles, can score the biggest win of his career against Puerto Rico’s Jose Pedraza (29-4-1, 14 KOs), 33, a former lightweight and junior lightweight titlist.

“It’s a big card, and there will be a lot of eyes on us,” Barboza said. “Pedraza is a formidable opponent. He’s my toughest to date and has only lost to the very best. I’m looking forward to the challenge. At this point, anyone I face is standing in the way of my goal, which is to win a world title. I am going to make a big statement.”

Pedraza is 0-1-1 in his last two fights but both were highly competitive. In March, he lost a decision to former unified titlist Jose Ramirez and in August he fought to a spirited slit draw with former lightweight titlist Richard Commey. Pedraza was due to fight Teofimo Lopez on Dec. 10 but illness forced him to withdraw from the bout a month beforehand.

“I have recovered completely from the illness that obligated me to pull out of my fight with Teofimo Lopez. Right now, I feel 100 percent, and I know Arnold Barboza Jr. is one of the best fighters in the division,” Pedraza said. “I’m sure this will be a great fight where I will reaffirm my level as an elite fighter at 140 pounds.”

The 6-foot-2, 230-pound southpaw Torrez (4-0, 4 KOs) turned pro in March and has stopped each of his opponents inside three rounds.

In preliminary bouts on the ESPN+-only portion of the card:

Las Vegas junior lightweight Andres Cortes (18-0, 10 KOs) will face Puerto Rico’s Luis Melendez (17-2, 13 KOs) in a 10-roundser.
Las Vegas middleweight Nico Ali Walsh (7-0, 5 KOs), the 22-year-old grandson of Muhammad Ali, will face Phoenix’s Eduardo Ayala (9-2-1, 3 KOs) in a six-rounder.
Lightweight prospect Emiliano Vargas (2-0, 2 KOs), 18, of Las Vegas, who is the son of two-time junior middleweight titlist Fernando Vargas, will face an opponent to be named in a four-rounder. Vargas made his Top Rank debut in November and knocked out Julio Martinez in the second round with a highlight-reel left hook.
Junior lightweight Xavier Martinez (18-1, 12 KOs), of Sacramento, California, will face an opponent to be named in a 10-rounder. Martinez is looking for a second win in a row since he made his Top Rank debut in a decision loss to top contender Robson Conceicao in January.
Junior welterweight Lindolfo Delgado (16-0, 13 KOs), a 2016 Mexican Olympian, will face Clarence Booth (21-6, 13 KOs), of Saint Petersburg, Florida, in an eight-rounder.

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Eubank-Smith undercard

Boxxer announced a pair of undercard fights on Wednesday that will be on the card headlined by middleweight Chris Eubank Jr. against Liam Smith on Jan. 21 (Sky Sports Box Office in the U.K.) at AO Arena in Manchester, England.

Cruiserweight contender Richard Riakporhe (15-0, 11 KOs), 32, of England, will take on the most notable opponent of his career when he faces two-time WBO titlist Krzysztof Głowacki (32-3, 20 KOs), 36, a southpaw from Poland. Głowacki’s only losses have been in world title bouts against Oleksandr Usyk, Maris Briedis and Lawrence Okolie.

“I’m really pleased that he took the fight,” Riakporhe said. “Everybody can see how I fare up to the test of facing a former world champion. He won’t be a pushover and I have to be at the top of my A game. It is going to be fireworks, believe me.”

Also, former heavyweight titlist Joseph Parker (30-3, 21 KOs), 30 of New Zealand, will face Manchester’s Jack Massey (20-1, 11 KOs), 29, who will take an enormous step up in competition as he moves up from the cruiserweight division.

Parker is coming off an 11th-round knockout loss to Joe Joyce in a WBO interim title bout in September. Massey’s only loss was to Riakporhe by decision in 2019.

Knee injury sidelines Dubois

The WBA ordered the mandatory fight between unified heavyweight titlist Oleksandr Usyk and secondary titlist Daniel Dubois at its recent convention as part of plan to get to down to one titleholder per division and gave them 30 days to negotiate the fight. However, don’t count on the fight being made any time soon.

Should the undisputed title fight between Tyson Fury and Usyk be made — which both camps say they are trying to do — the WBA says it will approve the fight and Usyk-Dubois will take a backseat, which is said to be fine with Frank Warren, who promotes Fury and Dubois and prefers to make the mega undisputed fight next. Fury is dealing with an elbow injury so the timing of his next fight is unclear.

However, it almost certainly won’t be against Dubois, who will be sidelined for several months after suffering a torn ACL during his third-round knockout of Kevin Lerena on Dec. 3 on the undercard of Fury’s knockout of Derek Chisora.

Lerena dropped Dubois three times in the first round, but Dubois hurt his knee on the first knockdown. He went down twice more without taking a punch because of the leg problem.

Barry McGuigan, the Hall of Fame former featherweight champion and father of Dubois trainer Shane McGuigan, told Pro Boxing Fans about the injury.

“Dan has a tear on his ACL, and as soon as we got the news that he had a tear on his ACL, suddenly he was offered the fight (against Usyk), which he can’t have. He can’t box for six months now anyway because of the repair time,” McGuigan said.

“He got hit on top of the head the last time, and when he stepped back he tore his ACL and his balance was very badly affected. He had to come back from adversity and he showed that he could do that. He kept his cool. Shane’s advice in the corner was great, kept him nice and relaxed, used his boxing skills, and walked Kevin Lerena onto that right hand and the finish was spectacular.”

Boxing Social appearance

I joined my friends at Boxing Social to discuss the biggest stories of 2022, the best fighters and fights, the disappointment of so many top fighters only boxing once this year, my pick for broadcaster of the year and some of the things I’d like to see in boxing in 2023. Check out the video here:

Rafael with Pugmire

I joined my good friend Lance Pugmire to go over the recently announced ballot for the 2022 Boxing Writers Association of America awards. Check out the video here:

Pascal-Eifert eliminator set

Former light heavyweight champion Jean Pascal and Michael Eifert will meet in an IBF title elimination bout on Feb. 9 at Place Bell in Pascal’s hometown of Laval, Quebec, just outside of Montreal, promoter Lou DiBella announced.

The winner will be one of unified champion Artur Beterbiev’s mandatory challengers. DiBella and Eifert’s team made a deal and avoided a purse bid, and now it’s signed sealed and delivered.

The fight will stream live in the United States on ESPN+, a source with knowledge of the plans told Fight Freaks Unite. The fight will headline a pay-per-view in Canada.

“Five years ago, most people in boxing wrote Jean Pascal off. Since then, his only loss was to (titleholder) Dmitry Bivol and he’s beaten Ahmed Elbiali, Marcus Browne, Badou Jack and Fanlong Meng as an underdog,” DiBella said. “There is a lot of fight left in Jean Pascal, one of Canada’s all-time great fighters. He will prove that on Feb. 9 against Michael Eifert and secure yet another title shot in his illustrious career.”

Following the win over Jack in December 2019, Pascal was out of action for 2½ years due to a series of failed drug tests. Pascal (36-6-1, 20 KOs), 40, of Montreal, returned from a suspension to beat Meng and now can earn another title shot.

“It’s been a long time coming, but I’m finally where I want to be, back home performing in front of my people,” Pascal said. “My fans have always been a major source of inspiration and their kind words have helped keep me going strong at 40 years young. Michael Eifert is a good, solid fighter and the final obstacle on my road back to the championship. I respect him like all my opponents, but it’s my intention to destroy him as quickly as possible.”

Eifert (11-1, 4 KOs), 24, of Germany, a pro since 2018, who has won five fights in a row, will be taking an enormous step up in competition.

“This is a lifetime opportunity and a dream come true for me,” Eifert said. “I can't wait to come to Canada to give the performance of my life versus a great (former) champion in Jean Pascal. It’s youth versus experience. It’s the young lion challenging the old lion to battle to be the king of the jungle.”

Quick hits

Heavyweight Efe Ajagba (16-1, 13 KOs) is in need of a new opponent following the withdrawal Wednesday of injured Oscar Rivas (28-1, 19 KOs), the WBC bridgerweight titlist returning to heavyweight for a nontitle bout. They were due to meet in the 10-round main event of the 2023 debut of Top Rank Boxing on ESPN on Jan. 14 at Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona, New York. But Yvon Michel, Rivas’ promoter, announced Rivas’ withdrawal on Twitter. “We have just informed Top Rank that Oscar Rivas unfortunately has to withdraw from his fight on January 14 against Efe Ajagba in Verona,” Michel wrote. “He injured an eye during his last sparring and his doctor forbids him to enter the ring under these conditions.”

Aidos Yerbossynuly has been released from Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis and returned to his native Kazakhstan earlier this month, Showtime reported during its Michel Rivera-Frank Martin broadcast on Saturday night. Yerbossynuly suffered a traumatic brain injury, had surgery and spent time in a medically induced coma following a brutal 12th-round knockout loss to secondary super middleweight titlist David Morrell in a Showtime main event on Nov. 5 at The Armory in Minneapolis. In mid-November, Fight Freaks Unite reported that Yerbossynuly (16-1, 11 KOs), 30, had made good progress as he had been weaned from the coma and was able to speak and walk.

The welterweight bout between four-division titlist Adrien Broner (34-4-1, 24 KOs), having his first fight in almost two years, and Ivan Redkach (23-6-1, 18 KOs) has a new date of Feb. 25 at a venue to be announced in Atlanta, BLK Prime announced. The pay-per-view card, which will have former junior lightweight titlist Tevin Farmer (30-5-1, 6 KOs) against former lightweight titlist Mickey Bey (23-3-1, 11 KOs) in the co-feature, was initially announced for Feb. 18. No reason for the date change was given.

The IBF purse bid scheduled to take place on Tuesday for the mandatory bout between unified junior featherweight titlist Murodjon Akhmadaliev (11-0, 8 KOs), 28, of Uzbekistan, and mandatory challenger Marlon Tapales (36-3, 19 KOs), 30, of the Philippines, was postponed until Jan. 3. The IBF agreed to the delay when both sides asked for more time to negotiate, usually a sign that they are close to a deal. Akhmadaliev boxed just once in 2022, a 12th-round knockout of mandatory challenger Ronny Rios in June. Tapales also had just one fight this year, a second-round knockout of journeyman Jose Estrella in May.

Show and tell

England’s Prince Naseem Hamed was a sensation at home. The flashy and extremely brash featherweight titlist was selling out arenas before his opponent had even been announced. Then he would inevitably score a knockout following his over-the-top ring walk that concluded with a flip over the top rope into the ring. A few of his fights had been on Showtime and even on ABC, but then HBO signed him to a fat contract in 1997 and the first fight was his American debut. He came to New York’s Madison Square Garden to defend his title against crowd-pleasing New Yorker Kevin Kelley, a former titlist and big talker.

The fight got enormous hype and exceeded even the wildest expectations. After Hamed made an unforgettable and prolonged ring walk, he and Kelley engaged in an all-time classic slugfest in which they combined for six knockdowns. Hamed was down in the first, second and fourth rounds and Kelly was on the deck in the second and twice more in the fourth, when Hamed knocked him out. HBO’s legendary commentator Larry Merchant dubbed it as the “Hagler-Hearns of featherweight fighting.” There is no higher praise for an intense and dramatic fight. The memorable Hamed-Kelley shootout, one of my all-time favorite fights, was on Dec. 19, 1997 — 25 years ago on Monday. Here is the HBO poster from the fight in my collection.

Dubois photo: Queensberry Promotions

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