The first of Emanuel Navarrete’s plan for four more fights in 2020 is scheduled for a card that promises to provide momentum for the junior featherweight champion’s pursuit of a unified title and further stardom.
The tireless Navarrete, who put busy back into boxing last year, will appear on the pay-per-view card featuring Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder II on Feb. 22 at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand, Top Rank announced.
Navarrete (30-1, 26 KOs) will face Filipino Jeo Santisima (19-2, 16 KOs) in defense of a 122-pound belt he won in an upset decision over Isaac Dogboe Dec. 8, 2018 in New York. The card also will include Charles Martin (27-2-1, 24 KOs), a former heavyweight champion, against Gerald Washington (20-3-1, 13 KOs).
Navarrete, of Mexico City, went on to defend the belt four times in 2019, including a stoppage of Dogboe in a rematch May 11 in Tucson, Arizona.
“I am motivated to make my fifth defense in less than a year and especially because I’m proud to be part of a historic card headlined by Wilder vs. Fury II,” Navarrete said.
The 5-foot-7 Navarrete figures to move up to featherweight, perhaps later in the year. First, however, he says he wants to unify the junior featherweight titles.
Two of the 122-pound belts changed hands Thursday night. Murodjon Akhmadaliev, a 2016 Olympian from Uzbekistan, took them from Daniel Roman by a split decision in Miami.
Rey Vargas holds the fourth junior featherweight belt.
Follow Norm Frauenheim on Twitter at @FrauenheimNorm
Murodjon Akhmadaliev outpoints Daniel Roman to win titles in eighth fight