This Saturday, May 10, Mexican Emanuel ‘Vaquero’ Navarrete will defend his World Boxing Organization (WBO) super featherweight title against Filipino Charly Suarez at the Pechanga Arena in San Diego, California in a card promoted by Top Rank. This will be the fourth defense of his 130-pound title, after he convincingly defeated Oscar Valdez in their most recent fight in December 2024, in the rematch of this matchup between two high-level Mexicans
‘Vaquero‘ boasts a record of 39 wins, two losses and one draw with 32 knockouts, after his failed attempt to win a title in a fourth division, but failed when he faced Denys Berinchyk in May 2023.
For his part, Filipino fighter Charly Suarez has an undefeated record of 18-0 with 10 knockouts and comes in as the mandatory challenger, as the number one contender in the WBO rankings. Although he is already a 36-year-old veteran, he will be looking to win his first world championship in what will be his debut in a main event fight
For the event, other fighters also stand out, such as Raymond Muratalla and Zaur Abdullaev, who will fight for the IBF interim lightweight title in the co-main event
Raymond Muratalla (22-0, 17 KOs), a 28-year-old fighter, is ranked third in the IBF lightweight division and first in the WBO. Muratalla is coming off a TKO victory over Jesus Antonio Perez Campos in November.
Zaur Abdullaev (20-1, 12 KOs) arrives with eight consecutive victories after losing his unbeaten record to Devin Haney in September 2019 in a fight for the WBC interim lightweight title. This will be his first major fight since then. The 31-year-old Russian fighter won by unanimous decision against Roger Gutierrez in February 2024, his most recent appearance
He is currently the No. 2 IBF lightweight boxer and third in the WBO rankings
The full card between Vaquero Navarrete and Charly Suarez
- Main event: Emanuel Navarrete vs Charly Suarez for the WBO super featherweight title
- Co-main event: Raymond Muratalla vs Zaur Abdullaev for the vacant IBF lightweight title
- Sammy Contreras vs TBD: Junior welterweight
- Andres Cortes vs Salvador Jimenez: Junior lightweight
- Perla Bazaldua vs Mona Ward: Junior bantamweight
- Giovani Santillan vs Angel Beltran: Welterweight
- Albert Gonzalez vs Jose Guardado: featherweight
- Alan Garcia vs Cristian Medina: Lightweight
- Sebastian Garcia vs. Azat Hovhannisyan: Junior featherweight
Read the full article here
