WBO World Super Featherweight Challenge
Last night’s Top Rank/ESPN Co-Main Event between WBO World Super Featherweight Champion Emanuel Navarrete (38-1-1 31 Kos) and Robson Conceicao (17-2-1, 8 Kos) was an entertaining bout from start to finish.
Due to Navarrete’s slow start, Conceicao took advantage early and boxed beautifully and stayed active with his hands, but Navarrete’s power and aggressive, awkward styles were quite evident round by round. I was impressed with Conceicao standing his ground and exchanging blow for blow with a much heavier handed combatant across from him, but Conceicao did eventually pay the price by being overly confident in the fourth round and got dropped for a quick standing 8 count. To my surprise Conceicao jumped right back into being active and resilient with his offense.
The heavier shots kept on coming from Navarrete who pressed the action as best he could, but Conceicao didn’t make it easy for him and continued to bang toe-to-toe even though he lacked the power his active hands kept him in the fight. Navarrete’s power showed up again in the seventh round when he dropped Conceicao for the second time for another standing 8 count but couldn’t finish him off in his usual fashion. A tired looking Conceicao refused to fold and continued to box his way to the final bell of the 12thround.
The Judges at hand had a tough call to make. One Judge called it 114-112 for Navarrete while the other two Judges called it 113-113 giving this bout a majority draw.
Conceicao got rewarded for his work rate handed round by round while Navarrete still retained his WBO World Super Featherweight Title after a hard night’s work. Although Navarrete didn’t look as razor-sharp as his last outing, he did manage to give us fans a hell of a fight with Conceicao. Maybe a rematch could be in the near future to clear the air.
Blaze