Emmanuel Navarette (28-1, 24 KOs) continued his rise to the top of the Super Bantamweight division on Saturday night August 17, 2019.
The WBO world titlist successfully defended his belt against Francisco De Vaca (20-1, 6 KOs) at Banc of California Stadium on the campus of USC.
It was the second title defense for Navarette and he made sure to put on a show for those in attendance and fans watching live on ESPN.
When the contest began, Navarette wasted absolutely no time. With De Vaca only scoring 33 percent of his wins by knockout, Navarette showed him very little respect.
The reigning champion walked right through his opponents punches and began teeing off. It was a combination upstairs which led to De Vaca hitting the deck midway through the second round. He managed to climb back to his feet but in hindsight he should have stayed down.
The onslaught of punches kept coming as De Vaca just couldn’t keep his man off. How the challenger made it to the third round is anyone’s guess.
The third round began just like the previous two. Navarette’s pressure never ended throughout. De Vaca did a better job of avoiding the big blows while trying to mount his own offense, but it just wasn’t enough.
The exhaustion and frustration were plastered on the face of De Vaca. So was his own blood.
Several unanswered big blows by the champion forced the referee to step in and put an end to the contest.
The match itself was an easy one for the champion. So much so that he is already slated to make his ring return in just a few short weeks in Las Vegas, Nevada on the undercard of Heavyweight champion Tyson Fury vs. Otto Wallin.
As for who his opponent could be, that’s anyone’s guess. The WBO world champion is now riding a ridiculous 23-fight win streak. He hasn’t tasted defeat in over seven years.
At this point, it doesn’t seem to matter who is placed in front of the champion.
