Emanuel Navarrete retains title due to favorable ruling on cut

SAN DIEGO – Despite a replay seemingly showing that junior lightweight titleholder Emanuel Navarrete sustained a vicious cut over the left eyebrow by a left-handed punch from challenger Charly Suarez, a referee ruling that the gash was caused by a clash of heads sent the bout to the scorecards.

And with that, Navarrete retained his WBO belt by unanimous technical decision with scores of 78-75 and 77-76 (twice).

“I knew it was a headbutt. It split my eyebrow completely,” Navarrete said in the ring afterward.

A distraught Suarez answered that it was his punch that caused the cut.

That distinction impacted everything, because when ringside physician Dr. Robert Ruelaz ruled that the fight needed to be stopped, doing so because of a punch would’ve awarded victory to Suarez by technical knockout.

Yet because referee Edward Collantes originally ruled the cut was caused by a clash of heads – and because video review supervisor (and former referee Jack Reiss) said the cause of the cut was inconclusive – the referee’s decision stood.

So even though Navarrete, now 40-2-1 (32 KOs), wanted the fight to continue as blood poured from his wound, the bout was stopped and he was declared the victor.

Suarez, 18-1 (10 KOs), from the Philippines, immediately requested a rematch.

“It’s that warrior spirit,” Navarrete said of his ability to withstand the discomfort of the sixth-round cut and emerge victorious while repeatedly pawing at his left eye to get the blood removed. “I felt good, strong, complete. The cut hurt. But while we were fighting, I felt good.”

Winning was a result of “the desire to get ahead, to get victorious,” Navarrete said. “[Suarez] is probably one of the top three fighters I’ve ever fought. He took the best out of me.”   

The pair came out blasting from the first bell, with Suarez pursuing Navarrete hotly and the champion landing a thunderous right and a later combination that buckled Suarez’s knees.

As Navarrete unleashed long-armed missiles, Suarez relied on his activity, snapping punches to the face.

Suarez continued with busy combinations, surging forward despite the lethal power of the Mexican with 32 knockouts in his 42 prior fights.

Navarrete struggled badly through Friday’s weight cut to 130 pounds, twice coming in heavy before dramatically exhaling out a rush of air so the scale struck 130.0. 

After the bout, he said the fact he felt strong Saturday may keep him at junior lightweight after last year’s failed effort to win a lightweight belt.

“I’ll take things calmly and see if I stay at 130 or go up to 135,” Navarrete said.

Navarrete fiercely pursued a finish in the fourth, letting hammer-fisted blows wail to no avail as Suarez shrugged them off and kept punching, bringing the crowd to its feet.

In the fifth, Suarez sought out Navarrete’s body, which pained him so a day earlier as he strained to meet the weight requirement.

Navarrete maintained his heavy-handed effort.

But in the sixth, on what was ruled to be the night’s third clash of heads, Navarrete sustained that nasty cut.

“It’s hard [to tell] so the referee decision stands,” California State Athletic Commission Executive Officer Andy Foster told BoxingScene.

Afterward, Top Rank Vice President of Boxing Operations Carl Moretti said he was stunned to watch the Suarez punch cause the cut, only to see the California commission fail to overturn it.

“That [punch causing the cut] is what I’m looking at, but they [the commission] said they couldn’t find it on the replay,” Moretti said.