By: Sean Crose
The vacant WBO world lightweight title will be awarded tonight when Emmanuel Navarrete takes on Liam Wilson at the Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona. Navarrete 36-1 is looking to win a third title in three weight classes while Wilson 11-1 is looking to shock the world. This is definitely the opportunity of an Australian boxer’s life. Navarrete was supposed to face Oscar Valdez tonight, but Valdez’s injury has kept that fight out. Wilson then found an opportunity knocking on his door. With that said, there was already some drama coming up before the opening bell on Friday night.
Team Wilson suspected that the scale was rigged during Thursday’s weighing session. “It all worked out for him,” Wilson told ABC sports, “no weight and they obviously interfered with the weight and made him gain weight.” Add all of this to the fact that this will be Wilson’s first game outside of his hometown and it’s understandable that stress levels are running high. However, the man will have to do his best in the ring, as Navarrete, who lost only over ten years ago, knows how to generate heat. Furthermore, only six of his 36 wins have not ended before the final bell.
Wilson claimed that the incident with the scale (where he weighed quite lightly and Navarrete only weighed) showed that his opponent didn’t take him as seriously as he should. “What I learned from that was that he either ignored me, or he didn’t prepare like a true champion,” Wilson said. One thing is for sure, it is Navarrete who is expected to win on Friday. In fact, the adamant Wilson could be seen by many as a last-minute substitute, nothing more and nothing less. It was up to Wilson, of course, to prove the opponents wrong. If possible.
Navarrete was the last in the ring in August, when he knocked out Eduardo Baez with a body blow. On the other hand, Wilson was last spotted two months earlier, when he decided to cast Adrian Rueda in June. If Navarrete wins as he expected tonight, he will most likely look forward to sharing the final ring with Valdez. If Wilson gets over his annoyance – he’ll toast the game. It’s worth noting that Navarrete was a weakling for the first time fighting outside his hometown when he defeated Isaac Dogboe in 2018.
