Emanuel Navarrete vs Eduardo Nunez Preview Feb. 28th, 2026
Emanuel Navarrete will be putting his WBO Super Featherweight Title on the line this Saturday, February, 28th while IBF Champion Eduardo Nunez does the same. This 12-round title unification between the two Mexican warriors takes place in Glendale, Arizona and can be seen live on DAZN. Navarrete last fought in May when he went eight rounds with Charly Suarez. It was originally called a technical decision victory for Navarrete as he suffered a bad cut and couldn’t continue. The original ruling was that the cut was caused by an accidental headbutt but video replays showed that a Suarez punch did the damage and it was officially called a no-contest. In his previous outing in December, 2024, Navarrete stopped former WBO Featherweight and WBC Junior Lightweight Champion Oscar Valdez in the sixth round of a rematch. Navarrete and Valdez first squared off in a slugfest in August, 2023 with Navarrete winning by unanimous decision.
Navarrete won the vacant WBO Super Featherweight Crown after getting up from the canvas in the fourth round to stop Liam Wilson in the ninth round in February, 2023. He beat Valdez and drew with Robson Conceicao in his first two defences before attempting to win a world title in a fourth weight division when Denis Berinchyk beat him by split decision for the vacant WBO Lightweight Belt. Nunez last fought in October when he beat Christopher Diaz-Velez by a unanimous decision and dropped him twice in the seventh round. Nunez won the vacant IBF Crown in his previous contest in May with a unanimous decision over Masanori Rikiishi in Japan.
Navarrete vs Nunez Betting Odds
Here are the betting odds from online sportsbook BetOnline.ag (full review here).
- Emanuel Navarrete +164
- Eduardo Nunez -215
My Pick
The 31-year-old Navarrete won the WBO World Super Bantamweight title by beating Isaac Dogboe by unanimous decision in December, 2018 then stopped him in the 12th round in their rematch five months later. He defended it four times with the fifth defence being called a no-contest after he stopped Uriel Lopez in the sixth round because there was no boxing commission present during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Navarrete moved up in weight and captured the vacant WBO Featherweight Crown in 2020 with a unanimous decision over Ruben Villa and defended it by stopping Christopher Diaz in the 12th round before decisioning Joet Gonzalez and then stopping Eduardo Baez in six. He then won a title in a third weight division in 2023 with his ninth-round TKO over Liam Wilson. The recent activity sees Navarrete enter the ring with an official mark of 39-2-1 with 32 Ko’s. He has plenty of power in his punches as 82.1 per cent of his wins have been by stoppage and his power doesn’t seem to fade in the later rounds. He has gone the distance in five of his last nine fights though.
Navarrete stands 5-feet-7-inches tall with a 72-inch reach, turned pro back in 2012 when he was just 17 years old and has boxed 254 rounds since. His first defeat came in his sixth pro bout when he came out on the wrong end of a four-round unanimous decision to Daniel Argueta. Navarrete also owns wins over the likes of Dennis Contreras, Luis Orozco and Glenn Porras earlier in his career. Even though Wilson dropped him in their 2023 battle, he’s proven to have a pretty solid chin so far.
The 28-year-old Nunez owns a fine mark of 29-1 with 27 wins coming by stoppage and has boxed 126 rounds since making his pro debut in 2015 as a teenager. He measures 5-feet-6-inches tall with a 68-inch reach so gives up an inch in height and four inches in reach to Navarrete. He obviously has tremendous power as he’s gone the distance just three times as a pro. He lost a a six-round unanimous decision to Hiram Gallardo by scores of 57-56 across the board in 2018 for his lone defeat and has gone 12 rounds in his last two outings. Since his lone defeat, Nunez has bounced back with 19 straight wins with 17 of them being by knockout.
He beat former world champion Shavkatdzhon Rakhimov in an elimination bout when he stopped him in the 11th round on the road in early 2024 in Tajikistan. He also has wins over Manuel Marriaga, Oscar Escandon, Jesus Ceyca, Adrian Perez, Osvaldo Maldonado and Rafael Hernandez. He stopped Jose Vega Ochoa in just 84 seconds in 2018 to win the vacant WBC Youth Silver Featherweight Title. Nunez has fought just three times outside of Mexico and those were against Rakhimov, Marriaga and Rikiishi. He has gone over 10 rounds just three times; when he stopped Rakhimov in the 11th frame and Willmank Canonico Brito in the 10th and final round in September, 2022 and in his win over Rikiishi.
Prediction…
Navarrete and Nunez are two aggressive Mexican boxers with plenty of power but Navarrete is basically a volume puncher who typically stops opponents with an accumulation of blows. He’s been on the canvas before but has a solid chin. He does struggle somewhat against superior boxers and hasn’t looked his best lately. Navarrete’s power usually pulls him through though and that could be the case again this weekend but Nunez is arguably the harder puncher of the two. Nunez has been forced to go the distance in his last two fights however. This has the potential to be a fight-of-the-year candidate as both men should throw throw punches in bunches for as long as it lasts. Anything can happen here but based on their recent performances I’ll lean towards Nunez.
Nunez has been in slightly better form lately.
Play Nunez -215 @ BetOnline.ag
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Eduardo Nunez betting • Emanuel Navarrete betting