World Champions React To Navarrete Vs. Valdez Rematch – ‘He Leaves Himself Exposed’
Chris Algieri, Paulie Malignaggi and Tim Bradley gave their take on the upcoming Emanuel Navarrete vs. Oscar Valdez rematch.
The first fight took place last year, as Navarrete won a unanimous decision to keep his WBO Junior Lightweight Title. Navarrete exerted more pressure throughout the fight, even if he was not the most accurate. He connected with 21 percent of the 1038 punches he threw during the fight. However, Valdez suffered visible damage to his cheekbone, showing the success he had. Navarrete also suffered a hand injury during the middle rounds, which disrupted his flow. Valdez capitalized on that as he took the fight to the final bell.
Navarrete followed up the victory by beating Robson Conceicao. After that win, he moved to 135 to face Denys Berinchyk for the vacant WBO Lightweight Title. But he came up short. However, the Mexican still has plans on going back to lightweight. Valdez has lost two of his last three fights. His other defeat came against the current WBC Lightweight Champion, Shakur Stevenson. But Valdez bounced back from the Navarrete loss by beating Liam Wilson in his last fight. The win made him the WBO Interim Junior Lightweight Champion, as he now has a shot to win the belt. Here is what Algieri, Malignaggi and Bradley had to say.
Reaction
“The first mistake he made is that he just came in there and he had one thing on his mind. [To land] the left hook. He kept thinking back, probably, to that Miguel Berchelt knockout that he had when he landed that big left hook. You know, he caught Berchelt on the way in, similar to, you know, to the way he was trying to attempt to catch Navarrete…He makes mistake after mistake. You know, he lunges forward at times. You know, he’ll leap up with uppercuts. He leaves himself exposed,” Bradley said
“It’s definitely been a momentum shift since their last fight. Going into that last fight, you know, I actually, I was expecting Oscar Valdez to have a very different game plan. I thought he was going to go out there and box more like, as you said, Tim in that Berchelt manner where he was kind of setting up shots, setting up those big punches.
“It was not the way that he chose to fight that night. And honestly, I don’t know if he can fight like that anymore. I don’t know if he has the ability to go back to his boxing at this stage of his career. And not to mention, you got a guy named Navarrete in front of you that is not going to allow you to make these adjustments,” Algieri
“Neither of these guys will ever be defensive specialists, right? So they don’t mind putting their faces in the way in order to achieve what they want, which is damage. Okay, Valdez is sort of back on some positive momentum for himself. Meanwhile, Navarrete, on the other hand, is on negative momentum at this point,” Malignaggi
Full Card
Emanuel Navarrete vs. Oscar Valdez – WBO Super Featherweight Title
Rafael Espinoza vs. Robeisy Ramirez; WBO Featherweight Title
Lindolfo Delgado vs. Jackson Marinez; Super Lightweight
Giovani Santillan vs. Fredrick Lawson; Welterweight
Richard Torrez Jr. vs. Isaac Munoz Gutierrez; Heavyweight
Albert Gonzalez vs. Gerardo Antonio Perez; Super Featherweight
Art Barrera Jr. vs. Juan Carlos Campos Medina; Welterweight
Steven Navarro vs. Gabriel Bernardi Cruz; Super Flyweight
Demler Zamora vs. Roman Ruben Reynoso; Super Featherweight
Cesar Morales vs. Miguel Gonzales; Lightweight
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