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Emanuel Navarrete is looking to celebrate his 28th birthday by becoming a three-division world champion. Navarrete (36-1 with 30 knockouts) is in the prime of his career after turning 28 on January 17, and the former WBO junior featherweight and WBO featherweight champion is a heavy favorite by the boxing betting odds to claim the WBO junior lightweight title against Liam Wilson this weekend. Wilson (11-1 with seven knockouts) is relatively inexperienced, and this will be his first opportunity to be a world champion.
The vacant WBO junior lightweight (super featherweight) title will be on the line in this fight after Shakur Stevenson decided to move up to lightweight. Emanuel Navarrete and Liam Wilson will headline a Top Rank card on Friday, February 3, 2023. The main card will start at 9 p.m. ET, while the main event is expected to begin around midnight at the Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona.
Emanuel Navarrete vs. Liam Wilson Betting Odds at BetRivers Sportsbook
Emanuel Navarrete -1430
Liam Wilson +700
Total Rounds: 6.5 (Over -136 / Under +104)
Emanuel Navarrete vs. Liam Wilson Preview
There is a lot of buzz about Emanuel Navarrete given the power he has shown for a fighter his size. Most boxers that are lighter than lightweights don’t have the strength to finish opponents in the ring. Instead, they look to win on points by fighting technically sound fights. However, Navarrete has proven to be the exception to that rule with knockouts in 30 of his 36 victories.
While Navarrete has one loss on his record, you can place a very sizeable asterisk beside that defeat. He was squaring off against Daniel Argueta in the Cinturón de Oro XVIII Flyweight Championship and lost a unanimous decision, but the organizers still declared him the champion after Argueta failed to show up at the weigh-in and looked noticeably heavier during the bout.
We saw Navarrete register an eyebrow-raising number of early knockouts as he climbed the junior featherweight ladder, but he was still a prohibitive underdog by the boxing betting line going into his first title fight. The oddsmakers didn’t think that Navarrete would be much of a challenge for Isaac Dogboe, making Navarrete a 5-1 underdog in the fight, but Navarrete won a unanimous decision 116-112, 116-112, and 115-113 to claim the title. Dogboe exercised the rematch clause in his contract, and Navarrete left no doubt in the rematch by securing a 12th round TKO.
The new champion quickly showcased his dominance by finishing his first three title challengers by knockout within four rounds. Jeo Santisima was able to last until the 11th round in his last WBO junior featherweight title defense, but he was simply delaying the inevitable.
After a warm-up fight, we saw Navarrete make the move to featherweight. There, he experienced the biggest challenge of his career when he faced Ruben Villa for the WBO featherweight title. Villa was unbeaten ahead of the showdown and a strong technical boxer, but he ultimately couldn’t deal with Navarrete’s power. Navarrete secured knockdowns in the first and fourth round on his way to a unanimous decision that he won 115-111, 114-112, 114-112.
Navarrete won all three of his title defenses as the WBO featherweight champion before moving to super featherweight for this bout. He had a scare during his last title defense in August though as Eduardo Baez was ahead on two of the three judges’ scorecards before Navarrete knocked him out cold in the sixth round. He was originally supposed to face Oscar Valdez in this bout, but Valdez bowed out in mid-December, opening the door for Liam Wilson.
Wilson was 9-0 before being knocked out in the fifth round by Joe Noynay in July 2021. Noynay sent him to the canvas three times before the fourth time proved to be enough, allowing him to retain the WBO Asia Pacific super featherweight title. However, Wilson was able to win the rematch in March of last year with a stunning second round knockout. If you dig into that fight though, there is reason to doubt Wilson here as Noynay was clearly undisciplined and showed up almost four kilograms over championship weight.
Emanuel Navarrete vs. Liam Wilson Prediction
Many bettors balk at laying a lot of juice, but value is value and there is considerable value in Navarrete to win this fight. He could easily close as more than a -2000 favorite by the boxing betting odds, so he is a great pick at -1430.
