Can Suarez finish off Navarrete?

While Mexican champion Emanuel Navarrete was struggling to make the 130-pound division limit Friday (Saturday in Manila), Filipino challenger Charly Suarez was relaxing inside his hotel room and feasting on a sumptuous post-weighin spread prepared by his conditioning coach and cook.

Suarez came in at 129.9 pounds while Navarrete, the reinging World Boxing Organization super-featherweight titleholder, needed almost two hours to be cleared to fight by officials after scaling in at 130.4 pounds.

He even took off his underwear but the scale still read “130.3.”

By the time Navarrete officially stepped in at 130 pounds, Suarez was already digesting his late-lunch of chicken tinola, pompano, steamed rice and fruits that were prepared at a nearby Airbnb booked by Boholst.

It is not clear whether Navarrete would recover in time for their clash on Saturday (Sunday in Manila) against the upset-conscious Suarez, who looked very fresh during the pre-fight ritual.

“Duling na eh (He looked cross-eyed),” Boholst said, noting that he wasn’t at all surprised that Navarrete was having problems going down to 130 pounds.

“I was told by a lot of people about his weight problem and this morning I personally saw him having problems,” added Boholst, stressing Navarrete, 30, appeared ready to pass out probably due to exhaustion and dehydration.

Whether Navarrete would regain his strength will be known at the Pechanga Arena in San Diego with Suarez, 30, attempting to knock the WBO crown off the massive betting favorite’s head.

The referee of the fight will be Ed Collantes while the three judges are Pat Russell, Fernando Villaroel and Lou Moret, all from California.

Navarrete brings to the ring a formidable 39-2-1 win-loss-draw record with 32 knockouts while Suarez, fighting for a world title for the very first time, packs an 18-0-0 card with 10 knockouts.

Despite his weight woes, oddsmakers have installed Navarrete as -500 ($500 wins $100) and Suarez as +360 ($100 wins $360).

“This is fight I have been waiting for. No matter what happens, I will win this fight,” Suarez said.