Emanuel Navarrete and Ruben Villa have agreed to fight for the vacant WBO featherweight title on Oct. 9, according to ESPN.
No. 1-ranked Navarrete (32-1, 28KOs) was expected to fight No. 2 Jessie Magdaleno for the belt but Magdaleno, reportedly not satisfied with the amount of money offered to him, pulled out of talks.
Villa (18-0, 5 KOs) was next in line at No. 3 in the WBO rankings. The Salinas, Calif., fighter is coming off a unanimous-decision victory over Alexei Collado on Jan. 31. Villa will be fighting for a major title for the first time.
Navarrete stopped Uriel Lopez in six rounds on June 20, Navarrete’s first fight as a full-fledged 126-pounder. The Mexican is a former 122-pound titleholder.
Shakur Stevenson vacated the WBO 126-pound title in early July and moved up to 130.
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