By: Sean Crose
It had the makings of a really good bout…a world title unifier between two high level Mexican warriors capping off a Saturday night fight card on DAZN. Walking in, there wasn’t much for a fight fan not to like. Both Eduardo “Sugar” Nunez and Emanuel Navarrete knew how important Saturday’s scheduled 12 round junior lightweight championship battle was. There would be no excuses.
Needless to say, if people were looking for fireworks, there weren’t a whole lot of those…at first. With that in mind, however, these men fought smart…something that tells you how good these fighters were. Sure they had explosive pockets of action in the early to mid rounds, but at that point neither man was going to let the other nail him clean all that often. They were just too good at what they did to allow that.
None of this means these guys weren’t tough, however. They were tough as nails. Nunez had his face beaten up, and Navarrete spent a lot of time eating a lot of body shots on the ropes. Again, it wasn’t non-stop action..but the action that did explode exploded in thunderous fashion. At least that was the case until the 10th round, when the battle did indeed turn bombastic. Each man threw furiously at the other. Each fighter was determined to prove (probably as much to himself as to his opponent)that he had what it took to survive the war of attrition the bout had become.
The ring doctor wisely stopped the fight heading into the 11th round. It was the right decision to make. Poor Nunez’ face was just too battered by that point. It was a puffy, bloody mess and there was no reason for him to have to endure more punishment. Besides, he had truly given it his all. Then again, so did Navarrete…. which is why the popular champion left the ring with both the IBF and WBO junior lightweight titles in his possession.
