The camp of Charly Suarez and Top Rank Inc. are locked in negotiations to guarantee that the Filipino fighters gets a well-deserved step-aside fee to allow Mexican champions Emanuel Navarrete and Eduardo Nuñez proceed with a planned unification fight in February 2026.

“Hindi pa kami magkasundo sa step-aside fee (We haven’t agreed on the right step-aside fee),” Delfin Boholst, Suarez’s chief trainer, told DAILY TRIBUNE on Tuesday.

Boholst didn’t say how much was involved but given Suarez’s status as the mandatory challenger to Navarrete’s World Boxing Organization (WBO) super-featherweight throne, the unbeaten Davao del Norte native is not settling for peanuts.

Navarrete, who is a Top Rank talent like Suarez, is poised to face Nunez, the International Boxing Federation titleholder, on 28 February in Glendale, Arizona.

The WBO had ordered Navarrete to defend against Suarez following the controversial ending to their initial clash last May in San Diego, California.

In that fight, Navarrete was declared winner by technical when referee Ed Collantes mistakenly ruled that Navarrete’s cut on the left eyebrow was caused by a head butt.

Suarez’s camp filed a protest and it was later found out via high-resolution video replay that a punch — and not a butt — caused the cut that put a stop to their fight.

Even the California State Athletic Commission favored Suarez and it reversed the outcome from a technical decision win by Suarez to a No-Contest.

Boholst swears that Suarez should get a reasonable step-aside fee and receive a guarantee that he will be the next opponent of the winner of the Navarrete vs Nuñez encounter.

Ilocos Sur political kingpin and sportsman Luis “Chavit” Singson serves as Suarez’s de facto manager.

Suarez, who won countless medals internationally during his stint with the Philippine team, isn’t getting any younger as he is already 37 years old.

For Suarez’s camp, time is of the essence.