Emanuel Navarrete defeats Ruben Villa to win WBO featherweight title
Emanuel Navarrete knocked down Ruben Villa in the first and fourth rounds, then withstood a late rally to capture the vacant WBO featherweight title Friday night at the MGM Grand Conference Center in Las Vegas.
The featherweight division has a new champ 🏆
Emanuel Navarrete dropped Ruben Villa twice en route to a unanimous decision victory on ESPN. pic.twitter.com/0gi1T8NDYz— ESPN Ringside (@ESPNRingside) October 10, 2020
Two judges scored the fight 114-112 and one credited Navarrete with a 115-111 victory.
“I couldn’t get the knockout, but the most important thing is I came away with the victory and I’m now a two-division world champ,” Navarrete said after his win, according to Boxing Scene.
Navarrete (32-1, 27 KOs) upset Isaac Dogboe on Dec. 8, 2018 to win the WBO super bantamweight title and then made five defenses in the next 14 months. He took a non-title bout against Uriel Lopez in June and stopped him in the sixth round, setting himself up for the bout with Villa on Friday.
Villa’s career record dropped to 18-1 with the loss.
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