Producing an emphatic sixth-round knockout of Oscar Valdez on a liver shot was thrilling enough Saturday night. The fact that Emanuel Navarrete got to do it in front of Mexican boxing legend Julio Cesar Chavez at the Footprint Center in Phoenix, Arizona only sweetened the moment that much more.
"Look, I've always been a great fan of Julio Cesar Chavez," a victorious Navarrete told ESPN moments after retaining his WBO junior lightweight world championship. "I've always treated him with the utmost respect and that shot is all about continuing the legacy of the legend Julio Cesar Chavez."
With that exclamation point, Navarrete (39-2-1, 32 KOs) put a bow on his 2024, while already looking forward to the New Year and the possible changes it could bring in his career.
"You could expect great things from me in 2025," Navarrete continued. "We're going to enjoy Christmas, spend some time with the family, get some rest, get together with my team and then make the plan for the next year which I could assure you, it's going to be one, maybe two more fights at 130 [pounds].
"And then," he said, "there's a lot of activity for me at 135."
His current division touts Anthony Cacace, Lamont Roach and O'Shaquie Foster as the other world champions, with Navarrete previously telling DAZN News that "my main goal is to unify," specifically mentioning Foster who was in attendance to witness his destruction of Valdez.
“At least now, with [O’Shaquie] Foster being in the same division as me and with the same promotion, that makes things a bit easier in terms of relationships with the promoters and speeds up the process for making fights happen quickly—whether for titles, unifications, or anything like that," Navarrete told DAZN News about how Foster could be the most seamless unification bout made for him.
That said, if he has one or two more fights at 130 pounds before moving to lightweight, he'll be jumping up to one of boxing's hottest divisions. The 135-pound group counts Gervonta 'Tank' Davis, Shakur Stevenson, Vasiliy Lomachenko and Denys Berinchyk as its world champions, meaning a move up to lightweight can present even bigger, more lucrative fights for "El Vaquero."