By: Sean Crose
WBO featherweight titlist Emanuel Navarrete will be defending his crown Saturday evening in San Diego at the Pechanga Arena when he takes on Eduardo Baez in a scheduled 12 round affair. Navarette, who goes by the nickname of “Vaquero” is the star here, as he’s a Top Rank signed attraction with a 35-1 record and 29 knockouts under his belt. Eduardo, however, is fresh off a win against Enrique Vivas just last March. With only 7 knockouts to be found on his 21-2-2 resume, the fighter known as “”El Gemelo,” isn’t much of a power puncher. Boxing is nothing if not a sport of upsets, however, so it might be interesting to see how this one shakes out.
The Navarrete-Baez card will be broadcast live on ESPN starting at 10PM eastern time on Saturday.
Across the block at Showtime there’s another card airing Saturday night, one that was supposed to feature Adrien Broner, though the controversial multi-titlist dropped out of the fight for emotional issues. This certainly didn’t please his scheduled opponent, Omar Figueroa, though a very solid replacement has been presented. Long story short: Sergey Lipinets was supposed to be on Saturday’s undercard. Now he’s in the main event.
Boasting a record of 28-2-1, Figueroa is said to be looking to reestablish himself after dropping two in a row, to Abel Ramos and Yordenis Ugas, respectively. He has some names of note in his win column, including Robert Guerrero and Ricky Burns. Needless to say, the 16-2-1Lipinets will be another win of note – provided Figueroa can best him. Lipinet’s only losses have come to Mikey Garcia and Jaron Ennis – two exceedingly high caliber names.
The Figueroa-Lipinet’s card will be broadcast live on Showtime Saturday starting at 8PM eastern time.