Entering Saturday's junior lightweight title unification match in Glendale, Arizona, most believed it had fight-of-the-year potential, and while it may have fallen short of that status, it was an exciting scrap.
IBF champion Eduardo "Sugar" Nunez was a slight favorite at the start of the fight, but he gave away the first four rounds to WBO boss Emanuel Navarrete in a manner that one would expect from a fan rather than a champion.
An overly respectful Nunez fell behind and never caught up as the larger and more powerful Navarrete backed Nunez up, closed his right eye, and in the tenth, busted the swelling open in gruesome fashion and forced the fight to be stopped before the start of the eleventh round.
Navarrete was the bigger man, the bigger puncher, and for a fighter known for his eccentric style, Navarrete showed some skills that he hadn't in previous fights.
Nunez showed heart and a good chin, but this is the type of battering that can ruin careers, and it will be interesting to see how he performs in his next outing.
Navarrete is now likely to meet Charly Suarez in a WBO-mandated rematch.
Suarez cut Navarrete with a punch in their first fight, but the cut was ruled to be from a butt and would go to the scorecards with Navarrete winning a close technical decision in the eighth round.
Suarez's appeal was successful, and the fight was changed to a no-contest with a rematch ordered.
Suarez accepted step-aside money to allow Navarrete to unify against Nunez, so the rematch will either be next or Navarrete will give up the WBO belt.
In the other challenge bout, veteran Abel Ramos continued his late career comeback with a split decision win over formerly unbeaten Tahmir Smalls.
Smalls led early, Ramos took over late in an entertaining fight.
I had it closer than the judges (96-94 for Ramos) did: 98-92 and 97-93, with the dissenting judge for Smalls at 96-94.
Ramos will likely move into a welterweight eliminator, while Smalls didn't hurt himself in defeat.
Boxing Challenge
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