Emanuel Navarrete’s majority draw against Robson Conceicao two weeks ago has resulted in lingering effects.
The WBO super featherweight champion Navarrete announced on Friday that he underwent left-hand surgery.
The 28-year-old posted a picture on Instagram laying in a bed with his left arm in a cast and sling at the Hospital Mexico Americano. When the caption was translated from Spanish into English, “Vaquero” referenced the hand surgery as minor and said it was a byproduct of an old injury that was re-aggravated during the contest with Conceicao and that it did not allow him to finish the fight at 100 percent.
Navarrete indicated that he’ll be ready for new challenges early next year.
One of the challenges for the all-action three-division titlist could be a rematch with Conceicao. Navarrete said after the fight Conceicao fight that the 2016 Olympics gold medalist and two-time title challenger deserved a rematch following a see-saw slugfest.
Navarrete (38-1-1, 31 KOs) knocked down Conceicao (17-2-1, 8 KOs) twice – both with right hands, once in the fourth round, the other in the seventh. But the final scorecards were close due to Conceicao’s relentless pressure.
Conceicao landed 213 of 822 punches compared to 116 of 487 by Navarrete. Two judges scored the fight 113-113, and the other had it 114-112 for Navarrete.
Navarrete was coming off a definitive decision win against former two-weight titlist Oscar Valdez in August and had stopped Liam Wilson inside nine rounds in February.
Manouk Akopyan is a sports journalist, writer, and broadcast reporter. He’s also a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and the MMA Journalists Association. He can be reached on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube at @ManoukAkopyan, through email at manouk[dot]akopyan[at]gmail.com, or via www.ManoukAkopyan.com.