Suarez’s title shot gets delayed anew


Charly Suarez.
Photograph by IVAN SUING for the Daily Tribune
It’s becoming clearer and clearer that Filipino Charly Suarez is the most avoided man in the super-featherweight division of 130 pounds.
This surfaced as Top Rank is finalizing a deal to pit World Boxing Organization (WBO) champion Emanuel Navarrete against fellow Mexican Eduardo Nunez in March next year in Phoenix, Arizona.
The move is against the order of the WBO to mandate Navarrete to grant Suarez a rematch following the controversial ending to their first showdown last May in San Diego where referee Ed Collantes bungled a call that allowed the champion to escape with a technical decision win.
If only Collantes had made the right call — ruling that a left hand connected by Suarez had opened a bad cut on Navarrete’s eyebrow instead of an accidental clash of heads — Suarez would have been the winner by eighth-round technical knockout.
The California State Athletic Commission, acting on a protest filed by Suarez’s camp, later deliberated on the issue and changed the result to a No-Contest.
The WBO then issued a directive ordering Navarrete to give Suarez, a technically-advanced and crafty fighter, a rematch when his wound heals.
However, Top Rank wants to stage another fight for Navarrete against Nunez owing to the real threat being posed by the undefeated Suarez, who turns 38 in August next year.