While promoters are expecting over 12,000 fans to be in attendance in Arizona to watch the Emanuel Navarrete-Eduardo Nunez junior lightweight title unification this Saturday, there is unlikely to be a more interested observer in attendance than Charly Suarez.
The unbeaten contender arrived earlier this week from the Philippines armed not just with a ticket, but also a letter from the World Boxing Organization, ordering whoever emerges with the belt currently held by Navarrete to face him within 120 days, with 20 days allotted to negotiate.
Suarez, 18-0 (10 KOs), believes that “Vaquero” Navarrete will prevail over IBF titleholder “Sugar” Nunez at the Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale.
“Navarrete will win the fight [because of] his experience and volume punches,” the 37-year-old Suarez, a 2016 Olympian, tells BoxingScene.
“Nunez has a good chance to win but for me Navarrete will do his best to get this belt.”
Suarez, it can be argued, should already hold the WBO 130lbs title, having given Navarrete all he could handle in their fight last May in California, before the was stopped at the beginning of the eighth round due to a cut over Navarrete. Originally ruled by referee Edward Collantes to be caused by an accidental headbutt, Navarrete was initially ruled the technical decision winner. It soon became clear from replay footage that Navarrete’s cut was caused by a punch, which would have made Suarez the winner by technical knockout.
Instead of declaring Suarez the champion after the fact, the California State Athletic Commission changed the result to a no-contest.
Now, before Suarez gets his shot, Navarrete, 39-2-1 (32 KOs), and Nunez, 29-1 (27 KOs), will consolidate the belts in an all-Mexican showdown, live on DAZN. Suarez says he has no strong preference either way about which fighter he will face.
“Either one of them,” Suarez said. “I’m always ready for the battle.”
Suarez’s manager/trainer Delfin Boholst, himself a former boxer on the Philippines’ national team, echoed his fighter’s thoughts on Navarrete’s edge in the fight, citing his superior stamina. He says it doesn’t matter to him either which one they face next.
“Charly is always a warrior,” said Boholst.
After the fight, Suarez will return to the Philippines before making a training trip to Japan in March. Suarez figures that, while it would have been nice to have the belt already, it will be nice to be able to fight for two different belts.
“Patience is a virtue,” said Suarez.
