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Steve KimESPN
Two title fights have been added to the ESPN schedule for the fall months.
Former junior featherweight world titlist Emanuel Navarrete will face Ruben Villa for the vacant WBO featherweight title on Oct. 9. The belt was recently vacated by Shakur Stevenson, who moved up to the junior lightweight division.
Also an agreement has been reached for Mikaela Mayer (13-0, 5 KOs) to challenge WBO junior lightweight titlist Ewa Brodnicka (19-0, 2 KOs).
Navarrete (31-1, 27 KOs), was scheduled to face Jessie Magdaleno, but Magdaleno declined the fight, citing that he didn’t agree to his portion of the purse after Top Rank won the bid for the fight with an offer of $250,000. Magdaleno was to receive 40% of the purse bid, well below what he was originally offered.
Now the No. 3 ranked Villa (18-0, 5 KOs) is getting the call to face Navarrete. Villa is coming off a unanimous decision victory over Alexei Collado in January.
“It’s a linear date and we get to promote the [Vasiliy] Lomachenko-[Teofimo] Lopez fight for the week after,” Carl Moretti, vice president of boxing operations for Top Rank told ESPN, referring to the highly anticipated lightweight unification clash that takes place on Oct. 17 inside the MGM Grand Conference Center in Las Vegas.
Mayer’s bout against Brodnicka will be her first title opportunity.
While there is a deal in place for that fight, Moretti told ESPN a date has yet to be set.