This is a great match up for the vacant WBO featherweight world title. Navarrete over the last two years has proved himself as one of the most exciting fighters in the sport and also shown how good of a finisher he is with four stoppage victories in 2019. Ruben Villa is seen by many as one of the best American prospects due to his technical skills and foot work.
Emanuel Navarrete is a good fighter but also a relatively simple one. He comes forward with his long arms and throws massive amounts of punches and he doesn’t stop until his opponents on the canvas wondering what happened to them. His foot work isn’t great and his defence isn’t the best in the world but with his style it works and there are very few fighters that can deal with his swarming attacks over 12 rounds. He is also one of the bigger punchers at the lower weight classes.
Ruben Villa in certain aspects is the polar opposite of Navarrete. He has great foot work and is technically very good but has almost no power. He also isn’t as experienced as Navarrete and has never fought a truly world class opponent yet. I think he’ll probably be on the back foot a lot for this fight and will need to gain Navarrete’s respect early if he doesn’t want to get bulldozed especially in the latter rounds. Villa’s defence is very good and it relies a lot on his foot work and upper body movement.
I think Navarrete will win this fight because he has more experience and in moving up to featherweight will be stronger and have more stamina because hes no longer draining himself to make weight. Villa will cause problems early on but I don’t think he’ll be able to keep off Navarrete the whole fight.
Boxing Fulcrum 