Stevenson, Navarrete vacate WBO titles to move up

Source: WBO website

12/07/2020

Stevenson, Navarrete vacate WBO titles to move up

New Jersey's Shakur Stevenson and Mexico's Emanuel Navarrete have officially vacated their WBO championships and requested to become number one ranked challengers in their new weight divisions. [Both boxers are promoted by Top Rank which enjoys a close relationship with the WBO and Top Rank boxers will be heavily involved in fighting for the vacant titles]. Shakur won the vacant WBO featherweight championship last October, defeating Joet González by unanimous decision. On July 7th, Shakur wrote to the WBO to notify this sanctioning body that he was having serious difficulties making the division’s 126-pound limit. Because of this, he decided to move up in weight and requested to be ranked in the junior lightweight (130-pound) division, where Jamel Herring [also promoted by Top Rank] is the current WBO ruler.
 
WBO President Francisco Valcárcel Mulero, Esq. said that Shakur will become the number one challenger at 130 pounds. “I look forward in the very near future to fighting for another championship within the WBO,” Stevenson, silver medalist in the 2016 Olympic Games said in his e-mail to the WBO.
 
Meanwhile, Navarrete’s advisor, Guillermo Brito Rodríguez wrote to the WBO on July 11th to notify that Navarrete was relinquishing his WBO 122-pound title and moving up to the featherweight division for similar reasons. Navarrete was crowned WBO 122-pound champion in December 2018 with a unanimous decision victory over then-undefeated titlist Isaac Dogboe, of Ghana. He then knocked Dogboe out in the immediate rematch. In total, Navarrete successfully defended his crown five times.
 
In his email, Brito Rodríguez requested that Navarrete be named the top challenger at his new division, the 126-pound class vacated by Stevenson.
 
Regarding Navarrete, Valcárcel said that he will also be ranked number one contender and could face the highest available contender for the vacant title. He mentioned Irish Olympian Michael Conlan, former title holder Jesse Magdaleno, and Rubén Villa as possible opponents.