Guessing game: Suarez back home, facing uncertain future

Charly Suarez and his camp are taking matters into their own hands.

Passed over the second straight time, Suarez and his manager-trainer Delfin Boholst don’t believe that the winner of this month’s unification showdown between Mexican two-belt titleholder Emanuel Navarrete and American O’Shaquie Foster will not follow the mandate of the World Boxing Organization (WBO) to defend against the Filipino by April of 2027.

Navarrete holds the WBO and International Boxing Federation (IBF) 130-pound straps while Foster has the World Boxing Council belt. They are set to face off on 24 October in San Antonio, Texas.

Several weeks ago, the WBO sent out an official memorandum sanctioning the Navarrete-Foster match and installing Suarez as the rightful challenger to the winner.

Lately, there have been movements within the Suarez camp that involves taking on a tough match with Vasyl Lomachenko, who has also expressed the desire to battle the Navarrete-Foster survivor.

In what initially looks like a title elimination fight, Suarez had voiced out his opinion to fight Lomachenko but negotiations fell through, prompting Suarez to pack his bags and return home after almost a year in the United States.

“He’s done for the year,” Boholst told DAILY TRIBUNE on Thursday.

Boholst said Uruguayan-American promoter Sampson Lewkowicz is now looking at 2027.

“I fell bad because time is fast ticking away,” Boholst added.

Based on the WBO’s previous dealings with Suarez, it doesn’t look as if the Filipino fighter, who has been the mandatory challenger for over a year now, will get a fair shake.

Suarez and Navarrete have a storied history.

In May last year in San Diego, Navarrete was declared winner by technical decision when referee Ed Collantes ruled that a head butt — and not a punch — opened a hideous gash over the Mexican’s right eyebrow that led to the stoppage on the advice of the ring doctor.

Navarrete weas leading on all the scorecards but it was later revealed that a legal blow, not a butt, was the real cause of the ugly gash.

The California State Athletic Commission later reversed the win into a No-Contest and Navarrete was ordered by the WBO to face Suarez in a rematch.

Instead, Navarrete signed to battle Eduardo Nunez, also from Mexico, then the IBF titlist, in a unification duel, with the WBO reasoning out that a unification fight supersedes a mandatory defense.

That same reasoning was used when Suarez was calling out Navarrete but his promoters turned a blind eye on this and succeeded in getting a deal done for a unification date with Foster.