Emanuel Navarrete to defend belt against Charly Suarez on May 10
Emanuel Navarrete will make his fourth defense of the WBO junior lightweight title on May 10 against Charly Suarez, Boxing Scene has confirmed.
The fight will take place at Pechanga Arena in San Diego and will air live on ESPN. The news was first reported by Dan Rafael.
Navarrete, 39-2-1 (32 KOs), last fought at the venue last May, losing a split decision to Denys Berinchyk for the vacant WBO lightweight title. The fight will be the first for Navarrete, 30, since December, when he scored a dominant sixth-round knockout of Oscar Valdez.
Now Navarrete will face a different Olympian, this one being from the Philippines.
Suarez, 18-0 (10 KOs), is the WBO’s No. 1-rated 130lbs contender, and last fought in September, stopping Jorge Castaneda in three rounds. The 36-year-old Suarez, of Davao del Norte province in the Philippines, represented his country at the 2016 Olympics but has struggled in recent years to bring meaningful fights to fruition, with planned fights against Andres Cortes falling through multiple times.
Suarez rose to contention in 2023, when he scored a come-from-behind stoppage of the previously unbeaten Paul Fleming in Sydney, Australia. Since then, his past three fights have taken place on Top Rank undercards.
Boxing Scene had previously reported that the Raymond Muratalla-Zaur Abdullaev IBF interim lightweight title fight would take place on this card, having been moved from its original date of April 5 so Abdullaev would be able to observe Ramadan. Muratalla-Abdullaev will be the co-main event, with the winner being the next in line to face IBF lightweight titleholder Vasiliy Lomachenko, should the 37-year-old Lomachenko continue to box.
