Emanuel Navarrete vs Joet Gonzalez – Results & Post Fight Report

Emanuel Navarrete defended the WBO featherweight title for the second time, as the Mexican took a bruising points win over Joet Gonzalez at the Pechanga Arena in San Diego.

Navarrete became a two weight world champion in October 2020, after a spell as WBO super bantamweight boss, dropping Ruben Villa twice before edging a points win, and he had defended once, a last round stoppage of the overmatched Christopher Diaz in April. Gonzalez had only previously lost once, routed by Shakur Stevenson in a crack at the WBO belt in October 2019, and he was coming off a ten round win over Miguel Marriaga last time out.

Mexico’s Naverrete began in spiteful fashion, and dealt Gonzalez a nasty cut as early as the second round, a nasty one under the challenger’s right eye, caused by a slashing left hand. The 26-year-old champion then went to work on the cut in the next round, connecting with a whirlwind of blows that came close to ending the contest early. Navarrete targeted the eye of his opponent again in round four, and was on the attack again as Gonzalez’s eye worsened. Navarrete was dominating the contest, and by halfway he had built a handy lead, but Gonzalez showed plenty of heart as he closed the gap in the second half, enjoying a decent sixth, and hurting his man to the body in round seven that momentarily staggered the champion. Gonzalez was applying plenty of pressure, but Navarrete continued to mix things up and meet Gonzalez in the middle, with the ninth an action packed frame. The two continued to trade until the final bell, and Gonzalez sported cuts on both eyes, as the scars of a gruelling battle were evident. After a breathless twelve sessions, the fight went to the scorecards.

Two scores of 116-112, and a third at 118-110 gave Naverrete the victory.

“Joet exceeded expectations, he is a great fighter” said Navarrete post-fight.

“It was a close fight, but my conditioning was the difference between him and me. I will give him a rematch”.

On the undercard, welterweight prospect, Giovani Santilan moved to 28-0, taking all ten rounds on two scorecards in a comfortable win over Angel Ruiz. Two scores of 100-90, and a third at 99-91 sealed the win for the home fighter.

Also at welterweight, Lindolfo Delgado made it 14 wins out of 14 as a professional, as he took a landslide eight round decision win against Juan Garcia Mendez. Delgado scored a final round knockdown on the way to an 80-71 win across the board.

Puerto Rican lightweight Henry Lebron also remained unbeaten, taking all eight rounds against Manuel Rey Rojas, and Javier Martinez did the same over six against Darryl Jones. At Bantamweight, Floyd Diaz took the battle of undefeated, dropping Jose Ramirez in the opening round before taking the win on the cards over four. Heavyweight debutant Antonio Mireles dropped Demonte Randles three times en route to a first round win.