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Saturday night on ESPN+ and ESPN, Emanuel Navarrete will return to defend his WBO featherweight title against Christopher Diaz.
Does Navarrete retain or will Diaz pull a shocker?
Scott Christ (24-7-2)
Christopher Diaz has to this point in his career been a nice, solid, second-tier fighter. Top Rank tried to get a 130 lb belt on him in 2018, but he wasn’t quite up to the task against Masayuki Ito. He moved down to 126 and Top Rank fed him to Shakur Stevenson as a Madison Square Garden showcase. He’s won a couple and now they’re sending him in against Navarrete, who is a good fighter everyone enjoys watching and is still mostly being handled with kid gloves.
Photo by Mikey Williams/Top Rank Inc via Getty Images
Saturday night on ESPN+ and ESPN, power punching super middleweight sensation Edgar Berlanga takes on Demond Nicholson in the Navarrete-Diaz co-feature.
Does Berlanga extend his run to 17 straight first round knockouts? Can Nicholson hang around or even win?
Scott Christ (24-7-2)
Demond Nicholson is an alright young vet sort of fighter, 28 and has been around, the book is mostly written on him unless he throws some curveballs. He can crack a little, not a guy whose power you can ignore. The terrible news for him in this particular matchup is he doesn’t take the best shot in the world; he was dropped three times and stopped by Jesse Hart in 2018, he got caught and dropped by Mike Guy in his last fight in Feb. 2020, which Nicholson did win by decision.
Photo by Mikey Williams/Top Rank Inc via Getty Images
Super middleweight phenom Edgar Berlanga returns to the ring this Saturday (ESPN and ESPN+, 10 pm ET), coming in having started his career 16-0 with all 16 wins by first round stoppage.
The 23-year-old Berlanga will be taking on veteran Demond Nicholson (23-3-1, 20 KO), who can crack a bit himself does bring some potential danger. But the odds are really less about Berlanga getting upset right now than when someone eventually does see the second round.
“I work with my guys to be ring assassins. When you get somebody in trouble, it’s time for him to go. . In the gym, I’m teaching all of the physical and mental aspects of boxing. And in the corner on fight night, I’m basically a calm, cool, collected individual administering the information. So if Edgar does go past the first round, it won’t be an issue.”