For the past two years, Charly Suarez has been biding his time and exercising patience as he awaited a world title opportunity. It was around that time, in March of 2023, when the Filipino fighter first became a legitimate contender at 130lbs, pulling a last-ditch victory over the previously unbeaten Paul Fleming in Fleming’s hometown of Sydney, Australia.

Trailing on all three cards heading into the 12th round, Suarez dropped Fleming with a left hook and then pummeled the weary fighter until the referee had no choice to stop the fight with just 62 seconds left.

Suarez, 18-0 (10 KOs), believed that victory would lead him to a title fight, but what ensued was a series of events that tested him mentally, including a canceled title eliminator against Andres Cortes last September, leading Suarez to fight a series of tune-ups while he waited for his time to come.

Now that opportunity is here, as he prepares to face WBO junior lightweight titleholder Emanuel Navarrete this Saturday, May 10 at the Pechanga Arena in San Diego, California. The fight will headline a card on ESPN, beginning live at 10 p.m. Eastern Time.

Suarez, now 36, is treating this opportunity as a once-in-a-lifetime shot, because he knows that there may never be another moment like this.

“This fight is a big answered prayer for me because we trained for this fight and this is my shot. I’ve been looking for this fight since two years ago,” said Suarez. “The chance that they gave me, maybe tomorrow there is no chance for me. That’s why once the opportunity came to me, I grabbed it and worked hard. Because maybe tomorrow I won’t have an opportunity like this. So this is my time.”

Suarez, who began boxing at the age of seven while growing up in Sawata barangay in San Isidro, Davao del Norte, Philippines, had been dreaming of a moment like this all along. An only child, Suarez was first introduced to the sport by his father. He made it to the Philippines’ national team in 2003, and by 2007 he was fighting on the world stage, competing in the AIBA World Championships in Chicago. 

Suarez already showed glimpses of his toughness on the world stage when, as part of the World Series of Boxing in 2013, he came in on five days’ notice, and with two injured shoulders, fought Vasiliy Lomachenko. Suarez hung in there for five rounds with the two-time Olympic gold medalist and future pro champion, refusing his trainer’s advice to stop the fight after three rounds and instead lasting the distance.

“I was excited because I know he is a good boxer, but for me that is my opportunity to beat him, or to fight with him,” Suarez told this writer in 2016. “But you know I lost because I wasn’t myself, didn’t have good training, I lacked training. I lacked practice but I gave our fight my best.”

After falling one win short of making the 2012 Olympics, Suarez finally achieved his goal in 2016, but he lost a split decision to future world champion Joe Cordina in his first bout in Rio de Janeiro.

It wasn’t until after 15 years on the national team, in 2018, that Suarez decided it was time to make a move to the professional ranks. It was a scary decision, as national team boxers are given a monthly stipend. The uncertainty of professional boxing is that unless you’re an Olympic gold medalist, you probably aren’t making money except for when you’re fighting. 

Faced with a tough decision, Suarez turned to his former national teammate, Delfin Boholst, asking him to be his manager and trainer. Boholst stepped up, and the two embarked on their pro journey together.

Boholst says that while the 30-year-old Navarrete, 39-2-1 (32 KOs), has been through wars in recent years and is just 1-1-1 in his last three bouts, he still has the punch volume to be a dangerous fighter.

Suarez has seen some changes in Navarrete over the years.

“In my observation he’s different from before. There’s a lot of fights, a lot of sparring, so it’s possible that he’s changed his style and power,” said Suarez, who is also a member of the Philippine Army, with a rank of Private First Class.

For this fight, Suarez held training camp at Elorde Boxing Gym in Parañaque City, Philippines, right in Metro Manila, before retreating to the quieter, cooler location of Tagaytay City to finish camp. They arrived in the United States nearly two weeks ago to acclimatize to the environment.

For what will be his most important fight to date, Suarez says he is banking on the several hundred fights he had as an amateur to find the solution to carry him through. 

“In this fight I use all of my experience in the amateurs. Me and my team, we studied for his movement, the movement of Navarrete,” said Suarez, who was a 2019 Southeast Asian Games gold medalist and 2014 Asian Games silver medalist as an amateur.

“No more excuses in the ring.”

A win would make Suarez the third current world champion from the Philippines – and the only one in a weight class above 105lbs. Even more than the glory of becoming a world titleholder, he’s motivated by a desire to make his country – as well as his fellow soldiers in the Philippine Army – proud of him.

“I’m a fighter so I believe I will win the fight. I don’t want to lose the fight. No matter what happens, in my heart and mind, I will get this fight,” said Suarez. “If you have a dream, keep your dream alive and don’t take it for granted. So that’s why I have a dream for when I’m in the amateurs, that I want to be an Olympian. Now that I’m in my pro career, I want to be a champion.”

Ryan Songalia is a reporter and editor for BoxingScene.com and has written for ESPN, the New York Daily News, Rappler, The Guardian, Vice and The Ring magazine. He holds a Master’s degree in Journalism from the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism and is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be reached at ryansongalia@gmail.com or on Twitter at @ryansongalia.