Emanuel Navarrete Next Fight: Opponent and Date Revealed

Dan Rafael has revealed via his Fight Freaks Unite Substack that WBO super featherweight champion Emanuel Navarrete (39-2-1, 32 KOs) will make the fourth defence of his title. The 30-year-old Mexican will face unbeaten Filipino fighter Charly Suarez (18-0, 10 KOs). Rafael further reveals the date, venue and an intriguing lightweight contest on the undercard.

Emanuel Navarrete’s Next Fight Details

Dan Rafael Reveals Who’s Next for Emanuel Navarrete

Navarrete will defend his WBO strap against Suarez on May 10 at the Pechanga Arena in San Diego, according to “sources with knowledge of the plans.” The card will be promoted by Top Rank Boxing on ESPN.

“Vaquero” was last seen in action, dominating and stopping Óscar Valdez in their rematch, this was a return to winning ways for the Mexican who had drawn with Robson Conceicao before moving up to lightweight to face Denys Berinchyk, a fight he lost via a split decision, with one judge scoring the bout 116-112 for Navarrete, while the other two judges had it 116-112 and 115-113 for the Ukrainian.

Following that loss was the impressive win over Valdez.

His upcoming opponent, despite being undefeated will be taking a huge step up in class. His last fight saw him record a third-round TKO victory against Jorge Castaneda.

Emanuel Navarrete vs Charly Suarez: Rest of the Card

On the card, we will see the return of the lightweight contender Raymond Muratalla (22-0, 17 KOs), who will face the Russian fighter Zaur Abdullaev (20-1, 12 KOs) for the IBF interim lightweight title. The interim strap is up for grabs due to the back injury suffered by Vasiliy Lomachenko.

The fight between Muratalla and Abdullaev has not been formally announced, but Rafael reveals in his Substack report that this fight was confirmed to him last month by Top Rank Vice President Carl Moretti.