Both Emanuel Navarrete and Oscar Valdez made weight for their WBO junior lightweight title bout tonight at the Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona.

Navarrete had to strip down naked to weigh in at the junior lightweight limit of 130 pounds. Valdez weighed in at 129.8 pounds.

The Navarrete-Valdez fight will headline a three-bout Top Rank on ESPN telecast (10 p.m. ET/ 7 p.m. PT).

The clash between Navarrete and Valdez has been one of the most anticipated fights of 2023, matching two strong, aggressive fighters from Mexico. Valdez is currently ranked No. 1 by The Ring.

DROP THOSE PREDICTIONS.#NavarreteValdez | SAT 10PM ET | @ESPN pic.twitter.com/a529PX0Vuk

— Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) August 11, 2023

The 28-year-old Navarrete (37-1, 31 knockouts), who resides in San Juan Zitlaltepec, Mexico, will be making the first defense of the WBO title. Navarrete won the vacant WBO title in his last bout on February 3, overcoming a knockdown to stop Liam Wilson of Australia in the ninth round.

In his previous fight on August 20 of last year, Navarrete knocked out Eduardo Baez in the sixth round. Navarrete was down on two of the judges’ scorecards at the time of the stoppage.

Navarrete has won world title belts at 122 and 126 pounds.

Valdez (31-1, 23 KOs) last fought on May 20, defeating fringe contender Adam Lopez by unanimous decision. The win over Lopez took place over a year after Valdez suffered his only defeat against Shakur Stevenson in a world junior lightweight unification fight.

The 32-year-old, who resides in Nogales, Mexico, has won world title belts at 126 and 130 pounds.

In the co-feature, unbeaten junior welterweight Lindolfo Delgado (17-0, 13 KOs) of Monterrey, Mexico will face Jair Valtierra in a 10-round bout.

Delgado, a 2016 Mexican Olympian, weighed in at 140.7 pounds. The 28-year-old is trained by Robert Garcia.

Valtierra (16-2 1 ND, 8 KOs), who resides in Leon, Mexico, is winless in his last two fights.

The Delgado-Valtierra was elevated to co-main event status after the fight between Raymond Muratalla and Oscar Torres was cancelled after Muratalla was hurt during training camp.

Francisco A. Salazar has written for The Ring since October 2013 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (California) Star newspaper. He can be reached at [email protected]

Follow @FSalazarBoxing

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