Pick it: Emanuel Navarrete vs. Eduardo Nunez
When to Watch: Saturday, February 28. The main broadcast will begin at 8 p.m. Eastern Time (1 a.m. GMT).
A preliminary undercard is scheduled to start at 5:20 p.m. ET (10:20 p.m. GMT).
How to watch: DAZN
Why to Watch: This is a unification bout between two fan-friendly junior lightweights.
Emanuel Navarrete, 39-2-1 (32 KOs), is the WBO junior lightweight titleholder. The 31-year-old from San Juan Zitlaltepec, Distrito Federal, Mexico, previously held the sanctioning body’s belts at junior featherweight and featherweight.
Navarrete’s last defense, against mandatory challenger Charly Suarez this past May, ended controversially. On paper, Suarez seemed as if he should have been outmatched against Navarrete. While undefeated, Suarez was 36 years old and had never been in with top-tier opposition. But on fight night, Suarez stepped up and gave Navarrete a good battle.
Indeed, 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. There were just two big problems. One, 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. Two, those would prove to be the wrong ruling and 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 vote. So it instead overturned Navarrete’s win into a no-contest, and the WBO ordered a rematch. Their rematch has yet to happen. Navarrete didn’t fight for the remainder of 2025 and now returns in a unification bout, looking to add another title belt to his collection.
Navarrete’s first world title win came in 2018, when he outpointed Isaac Dogboe. He beat him again in their rematch, forcing Dogboe’s corner to throw in the towel during the final round. Navarrete notched four more successful defenses before moving up to featherweight.
Navarrete’s next reign was at 126bs and started in 2020, when he outpointed the previously unbeaten Ruben Villa for a vacant belt. He defended it with three wins over Christopher “Pitufo” Diaz – who recently faced Nunez and has insights on this unification bout – as well as Joet Gonzalez and Eduardo Baez.
After defeating Baez, Navarrete went up to 130 and grabbed a vacant title with a ninth-round TKO of Liam Wilson in early 2023. That was followed with a decision over former titleholder Oscar Valdez and a draw with Robson Conceicao. Navarrete then journeyed up to lightweight in an attempt to grab a world title in a fourth weight class, but he lost a split decision to Denys Berinchyk in a bout for a vacant belt in May 2024.
That was Navarrete’s first defeat since his sixth pro fight all the way back in 2012. Navarrete returned to junior lightweight and clobbered Valdez for six rounds in their December 2024 rematch, then moved on to last year’s fight with Suarez.
Eduardo “Sugar” Nunez, 29-1 (27 KOs), is the IBF junior lightweight titleholder. The 28-year-old from Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico, has won 19 consecutive fights since suffering his sole defeat early in his career, a razor-thin decision loss to the 9-2-2 Hiram Gallardo in 2018.
Nunez built up plenty of hype during that win streak, with all of his victories coming by way of knockout or technical knockout. In 2023, he made quick work of both of his opponents, dispatching the 18-0 Jesus Martin Ceyca in the second round and doing the same thing to 27-6 former secondary titleholder Oscar Escandon. In his sole fight of 2024, Nunez made Miguel Marriaga call it a night after six rounds.
That landed Nunez a title shot in 2025 for the vacant IBF belt that had formerly belonged to Anthony Cacace. Nunez traveled to Japan and went the 12-round distance for the first time, outpointing Masanori Rikiishi for the title. In his first defense, Nunez performed in front of his hometown this past September and won an entertaining decision over Christopher “Pitufo” Diaz.
The undercard includes a welterweight fight between Tahmir Smalls, 16-0 (11 KOs), and Abel Ramos, 28-6-3 (22 KOs), who hasn’t competed since battling Mario Barrios to a draw in November 2024.
Also on this show at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona: junior welterweight prospect Emiliano Vargas, 16-0 (13 KOs), faces Agustin Ezequiel Quintana, 22-2-1 (13 KOs); and junior featherweight prospect Arturo Cardenas – also known as Arturo Popoca – who is 17-0-1 (9 KOs), will meet Jordan Martinez, 16-0 (15 KOs).
More Fights to Watch
Thursday, February 26: Marco Romeo vs. Jason Mallia (Triller TV)
The broadcast begins at 1 a.m. Eastern Time (6 a.m. GMT).
This battle of Australian welterweights takes place in Sydney and features Marco Romeo, also known as Marco Todisco, 8-1 (4 KOs), against Jason Mallia, 10-0 (6 KOs).
Friday, February 27: Edward Vazquez vs. Grimardi Machuca (ProBox TV)
The broadcast begins at 7 p.m. Eastern Time (11 p.m. GMT).
Vazquez, 18-3 (5 KOs), is a former featherweight and junior lightweight title challenger. The 30-year-old hails from nearby Fort Worth, Texas, not far from this show at College Park Center in Arlington.
Vazquez’s first loss was a controversial split decision against Raymond Ford in early 2022. His second loss was by majority decision in a challenge of Joe Cordina for the IBF 130lbs belt in late 2023. Vazquez’s third defeat was clear, however, a seventh-round TKO at the hands of WBO 126lbs titleholder Rafael Espinoza last May. Vazquez returned this past November with a fifth-round stoppage of the 14-1 Albeiro Paredes.
Machuca, 17-3 (14 KOs), is a 35-year-old from Venezuela who lives in New Jersey. He will try to break a streak of three consecutive losses, all by unanimous decision: against the 21-1 Pablo Vicente in May 2023; the 19-1-1 Branden Pizarro in September 2024; and the 16-0 Deonte Brown in October 2025.
The co-feature will pit welterweight Ruben Aguilar, 23-0-1 (20 KOs), against Luis Lopez, 16-2-4 (5 KOs).
(Note: BoxingScene and ProBox are both owned by Garry Jonas.)
Friday, February 27: Terry Washington vs. Eduardo Yudel Reyes Torres (Triller TV)
The broadcast begins at 9 p.m. Eastern Time (2 a.m. GMT).
This show at Thunder Studios in Long Beach, California, is headlined by unbeaten junior flyweight prospect Terry Washington, 6-0 (5 KOs). He will face Eduardo Yudel Reyes Torres, 18-4 (8 KOs), who was stopped by Oscar Collazo in 2023, outpointed by Erick Rosa in 2024, and finished early due to an eye injury against the 4-2-1 Diego Mata Cruz, also in 2024.
Friday, February 27: Conor Quinn vs. Jake Dodd (DAZN)
The broadcast begins at 2 p.m. Eastern Time (7 p.m. GMT).
Quinn, 10-1-1 (6 KOs), is a 28-year-old flyweight from Belfast, Northern Ireland, which means he’ll fight in his hometown at the Waterfront Hall. He lost a majority decision to the 11-0 Conner Kelsall in June 2024 and, in his most recent outing, shut out an 0-29-1 opponent in February 2025.
Dodd, 6-0 (1 KO), is a 31-year-old from Wrexham, Wales. His victories have come against foes with a combined record of 12-232-8.
Saturday, February 28: Constantin Ursu vs. Owen Cooper (DAZN)
The main broadcast begins at 2:30 p.m. Eastern Time (7 p.m. GMT). A preliminary undercard will start at 11:40 a.m. ET (4:40 p.m. BST).
Ursu, 14-0 (6 KOs), is a 25-year-old welterweight who lives in Plymouth, England. He fought twice last year, knocking out the 13-1 Eithan James in March and winning a lopsided decision over the 16-2-2 Ryan Amos in November.
Cooper, 11-1 (4 KOs), is a 25-year-old from Worcester, England. He was stopped by Ekow Essuman in the 10th round of their July 2024 clash. Cooper returned last May with a close points win against the 17-2 Chris Kongo.
This show is being held at Vaillant Live in Derby, England.
Saturday, February 28: Elijah Pierce vs. Lorenzo Parra (Amazon Prime and All Women’s Sports Network)
The broadcast begins at 5 p.m. Eastern Time (10 p.m. GMT).
The fight between Elijah Pierce and Lorenzo Parra was originally scheduled for November 29, but an ill Pierce pulled out the day of the weigh-in.
Pierce, 21-2 (17 KOs), is a 29-year-old from the state of Georgia who will be fighting in his second bout at featherweight after competing at or near 122lbs. He outpointed Tramaine Williams and scored a third-round knockout over Mike Plania in 2023, then had a fourth-round TKO of Arthur Villanueva and a unanimous decision over Jose Sanmartin in 2024. Last July, Pierce moved up and notched a ninth-round KO of Michael Dasmarinas. Both of Pierce’s defeats came against quality foes at 126lbs: a unanimous decision to Giovanni Cabrera in 2018 and a majority decision to Sulaiman Segawa in 2019.
Parra, 23-1-1 (17 KOs), is a 31-year-old from Venezuela. His sole loss came in 2017, when he dropped a decision to the 19-2-1 Yonfrez Parejo. Parra was on a run of nine consecutive victories before fighting to a draw with featherweight prospect Omar Trinidad this past August.
In the co-feature, junior welterweight Bryce Mills, 20-1 (7 KOs), will face Tobias Green, 12-3-1 (4 KOs), in a 10-round bout. Also scheduled for the show in separate matches are Jimuel Pacquiao, 0-0-1 (0 KO), and well-touted lightweight/junior welterweight prospect Curmel Moton, 8-0 (6 KOs).
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.
