Navarrete vs Suarez Fight Results: Navarrete Scores A TD Victory In A Wild Fight

They wasted no time getting into it as Navarrete and Suarez began unloading as soon as the bell rang to start the fight. With his awkward style, Navarrete landed a hard right hand that busted Suarez’s nose. Given Friday’s weigh-in drama, Suarez went straight to Navarrete’s body, causing him to move back to the ropes.

The second round was an all-out brawl as Navarrete landed huge right hands that buckled Suarez. Then, Suarez would return and land big left hooks, sending Navarrete back to the ropes. Both men landed some big shots throughout the round.

Navarrete landed his signature long looping right hands and uppercuts, which buzzed Suarez. Navarrete again controlled most of the round, but Suarez would land a three-punch combination, and just like that, he would take back the momentum.

In the fourth round, Navarrete hurt Suarez and swarmed him with a 4-5 punch combination, but then Suarez would weather the storm and come right back with a left uppercut to the chest. Navarrete then spun Suarez around and began throwing punches at will.

The fifth round was more back-and-forth action for the two fighters, as they equally had their moments. It was a tough round to judge, especially when both fighters threw tons of punches.

If there wasn’t enough drama with this fight from Friday, there was a headbutt (later it was revealed that a punch landed, which caused the cut and the referee blew the call) at the beginning of round six, and a cut surfaced over the left eye of Navarrete. After the blood came pouring down, Navarrete got desperate and hurt Suarez with a left hook to the body. However, Suarez landed big shots on Navarrete in desperate moments, which rocked him badly.

The action continued as a bloodied Navarrete kept bringing the pressure throughout the seventh round. Suarez landed some big looping left hooks, and they hurt Navarrete. At the beginning of the eighth, the referee sent Navarrete to the corner to be examined by the doctor. The referee stopped the fight at the advice of the ringside doctor.

Raymond Muratalla Earns UD & IBF Interim Lightweight Title

Raymond Muratalla (23-0, 17 KOs) is the new IBF interim lightweight champion as he scored a unanimous decision in the co-main event on ESPN.

The judges scored this one 118-110 and 119-109 x 2 for Muratalla. He boxed well and went 12 rounds with Zaur Abdulalev (20-2, 12 KOs) in a fight that didn’t display much entertainment for the crowd inside the Pechanga Arena, who booed for a good portion of the fight.

According to CompuBox, “Abdulalev only reached double digits in landed punches in three rounds, while Muratalla landed at least 10 punches in ten of the rounds. Muratalla landed 46 more power punches than Abdulalev.”

The opening round was filled with a ton of feints and jabs as Muratalla and Abdulalev were gauging distance. Muratalla was the busier of the two fighters as Abdulalev had a hard time picking up the jab from Muratalla,

In the second round, Muratalla increased his punch output, and as soon as he changed the levels to his left jab, he was able to land a huge overhand right that rocked Abdulalev. Muratalla also landed a right uppercut and left hook that found its mark throughout the round. Muratalla showed patience in the third round but it didn’t please the crowd as they began to boo. Abdulalev did well countering with a straight right hand, but those were few and far between. Muratalla mostly feinted throughout the round with a minimal amount of punches thrown.

Muratalla stepped up his offense in the fourth round and began landing four-punch combinations. Although he was head-hunting throughout the round, Muratalla landed more of the effective punches as Abdulalev tried to land the perfect counterpunch. Abdulalev, sensing he was behind, increased his punch output in the fifth round as Muratalla spent most of the time just watching and gauging space.

There weren’t many fireworks in the sixth as both men hesitated to throw more than two punches at a time. However, there was a moment when Abdulalev countered perfectly, catching Muratalla off guard. It wasn’t enough to hurt him but gave him something to think about.

The second half of the fight was all Muratalla behind his left jab and overhand right. He avoided taking any risks and was content with throwing 1-2 punches at a time. It wasn’t a star-making performance, but he got the job done and the interim title.

Undercard Results

Super featherweight Andres Cortes (23-0, 12 KOs) scored a less than entertaining but unanimous decision over Salvador Jimenez (14-2-1, 6 KOs). The judges saw this 99-91  and 100-90 x2 for Cortes.

Welterweight and San Diego native Giovani Santillan (34-1, 18 KOs) scored a unanimous decision over Angel Beltran (18-3, 11 KOs). All three judges saw this one 97-93 for Santillan, who had a harder fight than it should have been. Santillan looked good at times but often took breathers and landed 2-3 punches at a time. It’ll be interesting to see where he goes from here.

In their four-round bout, women’s super flyweight Perla Bazaldua (2-0, 1 KO) scored a dominant, unanimous decision over Mona Ward (0-2). All three judges saw this one 40-36 for Bazaldua, who earns her first win under the Top Rank banner.

Lightweight Alan “Kid Kansas” Garcia (16-1, 11 KOs) scored a unanimous decision over Cristian Medina(8-3-1, 5 KOs). All three judges scored it 79-73 for Garcia. It was a decent fight as Garcia was tested in a fight he should have dominated. The fight went the distance, and Garcia, although victorious, will have to go back to the drawing board and work on his fundamentals.

Super bantamweight Sebastian Hernandez (20-0, 18 KOs) had his toughest fight to date as he scored a unanimous decision over Azat “Crazy A” Hovhannisyan (21-6, 17 KOs). All three judges scored it 98-91 for Hernandez, who picked up his 20^th win. Hovhannisyan mostly dominated the first four rounds, but when a phone booth fight broke out in the 5^th, that’s when Hernandez began to pour it on. In the eighth, the referee almost stopped the fight as Hernandez was throwing a ton of punches with none coming back to him. Hovhannisyan had a point deducted in the ninth for excessive holding, and both men finished the fight, leaving it all in the ring.