Emanuel Navarrete vs. Eduardo Baez: Boxing Preview, Odds, Picks & Prediction (2022)
Fight fans’ attention will turn back to the Pechanga Arena in San Diego, CA this weekend for a great night of boxing following a UFC card there last weekend that will be hard to top. With the action getting underway in the main card at 7 PM EST, this weekend’s festivities can be streamed in their entirety on ESPN and ESPN+.
In the main event, a pair of featherweights Eduard Baez and Emanuel Navarrete will cap us off in what should be a great night of boxing out west. Let’s take a closer look at the action and how things might finish in this clash of featherweight top 10s.
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These odds were taken from FanDuel Sportsbook on August 17, 2022
Emanuel Navarrete (35-1, 29 KOs) vs. Eduardo Baez (21-2-2, 7 KOs)
Baez, who turned professional in 2013, has been dominating his opponents up until a recent bout with Raeese Aleem in November, where he suffered just his second career defeat by majority decision. Baez has now recovered, defeating Jose Enrique Vivas by decision in March.
Baez, who is 5’9″, will be taller than his opponent but will lose the reach encounter with his opponent’s 72″ reach, a 2″ advantage over him. Baez, who is currently the #7 WBO featherweight contender, recently made the transition from junior featherweight to featherweight and will have the toughest fight of his career on Saturday night.
The heavy favorite Navarette won the vacant WBO featherweight title in October 2020 against Ruben Villa, after capturing the WBO junior-featherweight title in December 2018, and has now successfully defended it five times. Since then, the champ has successfully defended it twice against Christopher Diaz and Joet Gonzalez, with the latest victory coming in November.
Navarrete, a knockout specialist, has won 29 of his 36 professional fights by KO/TKO, a feat he hopes to duplicate on Saturday at Pechanga Arena. Speaking of Pechanga Arena, Navarrete will be familiar with the environment leading up to the fight Saturday, as his October defeat of Gonzalez was here as well.
Bottom Line
Since opening in the -400 range, we’ve seen the odds on Navarrete get out of control reaching as high as -1400 as of Wednesday morning. While the support is worthy, I think it’s gotten too high and has no value remaining despite the almost certainty that he takes care of Baez.
Instead, I’m looking for the knockout king to get back to his old ways, as he has just one KO/TKO in his last three fights; something that I think changes on Saturday night.
Pick: DNavarrete wins by TKO/KO or DQ +100
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