Charly Suarez could get his rematch with Emanuel Navarrete, this time with an additional world title on the line.
The WBO has ordered Navarrete-Suarez II, sanctioning body president Gustavo Olivieri announced this morning. The fighters have 20 days to reach an agreement. Barring an extension to the negotiating period, the bout would then be sent to a purse bid, with the minimum bid amount set at $150,000.
Navarrete, 40-2-1 (33 KOs), a three-division titleholder, has held the WBO belt at 130lbs since February 2023 and just added the IBF title last month after stopping Eduardo Nunez in the 11th round of their unification match.
That was Navarrete’s first fight since his controversial no-contest against Suarez this past May.
Navarrete suffered a cut over his left eyebrow in the sixth round that was bad enough for the bout to be stopped at the start of the eighth. The referee had ruled that the cut was caused by an accidental clash of heads, which meant the fight would be sent to the scorecards. Navarette was named the winner by narrow technical decision.
Except that would prove to be the wrong ruling – and therefore the wrong result.
Replay footage had initially seemed inconclusive until about 30 minutes after the stoppage, when it became clear that the cut had actually been caused by a shot from Suarez. That meant Suarez should have been the TKO winner.
Weeks later, the California State Athletic Commission recognized that it didn’t want to end Navarrete’s title reign after the fact through a commission meeting. So it instead overturned Navarrete’s win into a no-contest, and the WBO ordered a rematch with Suarez, 18-0 (10 KOs), who had been and remains the top-ranked mandatory challenger.
Suarez, a 37-year-old from the Philippines, hasn’t fought since then. While he is also ranked 11th by the WBC, he is not currently rated by either the IBF or WBA.
David Greisman, who has covered boxing since 2004, is on Twitter @FightingWords2. David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” is available on Amazon.
