WBO World Super Bantamweight Champion Emanuel Navarrete (26-1, 22 KOs) is confident of going two-from-two in his rematch against former titleholder Isaac Dogboe (20-1, 14 KOs) at the Convention Center in Tucson, Arizona this Saturday night.
The 24-year-old Mexican scored one of the upsets of the year when he outpointed the popular Ghanaian at New York’s Madison Square Garden last December.
“I like the fight, I knew that he would want the rematch soon,” Navarrete said in an interview with The Ring through his manager Alejandro Brito.
“The first fight was very good, this must be the same. It will be a hard fight, like the first fight. The difference is that now I am the champion, I am going into the ring with more trust and I know that I can box better.
“I know he wants to win but I also want to win. I’m going to demonstrate all my improvements around the ring. I want to be a champion for a long time.”
Despite his impressive showing against Dogboe in their first fight, Navarrete says he can improve on that performance.
“In the first fight I missed many blows wanting the knockout,” he said. “I had some rounds in which I was not very certain, they were errors that will not repeat themselves.
“I feel very strong, fast and motivated to win. I am the champion and I will control the fight, my objective is the same, the knockout.
“Dogboe moves a lot in the early rounds. He knows the power I have, now I will correct my errors and I am sure he cannot last against my punch.”
In the wake of his first professional loss, Dogboe blamed a poor training camp for his performance. Navarrete dismisses the suggestion out of hand.
“I do not think it is true, he arrived strong to the fight, made the weight without problems and if he did not train [that] was his fault,” he said.
“I am the champion, I have already won once. I am better than him and on May 11 I will return to win. There are no pretexts, [I hope] Dogboe trains good because I will go for the knockout.”
–ringnews24
