The WBO junior featherweight and featherweight champion Emanuel Navarrete put on a solid performance to retain his 126-pound title, when he faced Christopher Diaz on Saturday, April 24 (Sunday, April 25 in Australia). The pair squared off in the headliner of Top Rank Boxing fight card live on ESPN and ESPN+ in the US, and FITE TV internationally, form Silver Spurs Arena in Kissimmee, FL.
The scheduled for twelve rounds world championship bout didn’t go the full distance. The fight was over 11 seconds prior to the final bell, after Navarrete unloaded another barrage of punches dropping Diaz to the canvas.
The latter did get back on his feet after receiving another eight count, yet the fight was waved off at 2 minutes and 49 seconds into Round 12. You can watch the video of stoppage and fight highlights below.
Stoppage.
#NavaretteDiaz ends in Round 12 TKO in favor of two-weight @WorldBoxingOrg champion Emanuel Navarrete ?? pic.twitter.com/S5vVvgk6PR
— FIGHTMAG (@fightmag) April 25, 2021
1 round to go.
Meanwhile in Kissimmee, FL #NavaretteDiaz pic.twitter.com/ZMyVIshq8q
— FIGHTMAG (@fightmag) April 25, 2021
Ringside footage.
#NavaretteDiaz heading into Round 12 ??? pic.twitter.com/0WOgNF5KWC
— FIGHTMAG (@fightmag) April 25, 2021
Round 4.
That Navarrete ????????? lead left uppercut.
Goodness … ?#NavarreteDiaz | LIVE NOW on ESPN & ESPN+ pic.twitter.com/1CdHtQTslR
— Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) April 25, 2021
With the win Emanuel Navarrete makes the first successful defense of his WBO featherweight title and updates his record to 33-1, 28 KOs, 1 NC. He earned then vacant belt by unanimous decision against Ruben Villa in October 2020 and became the two-division champion.
Christopher Diaz drops to 26-3, 16 KOs. The defeat snaps his two-win streak.
In the co-feature Edgar Berlanga secured a unanimous decision against Demond Nicholson after eight rounds at super middleweight. The full fight results from Navarrete vs Diaz fight card can be found here.
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