On Thursday, Nov. 16 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Mexico’s Emanuel “Vaquero” Navarrete defends his WBO junior lightweight belt against Brazil's Robson Conceição. Navarrete-Conceicao will be the chief supporting bout on ESPN, ESPN Deportes and ESPN+ at 10:30 p.m. ET/7:30 p.m. PT. The main event is a WBC lightweight title bout between Shakur Stevenson and Edwin De Los Santos. 

 

Navarrete (38-1, 31 KOs) captured his first world title by defeating Isaac Dogboe for the WBO junior featherweight crown in December 2018. He made five defenses before moving up to featherweight, where he beat Ruben Villa for the vacant WBO title in October 2020. The 28-year-old defended his belt three times before moving up to 130 pounds. In February, Navarrete became a three-division champion by defeating Liam Wilson via ninth-round TKO for the WBO junior lightweight world title. He solidified his dominance at 130 pounds with a twelve-round decision win against Valdez in August. Navarrete looks to make the second defense of his strap as the possibility of a title opportunity in a fourth weight division emerges on the horizon.

 

Navarrete said, “I am very happy to be able to defend my title again in 2023. My motivation is to continue achieving great victories for Mexican boxing and to bring glory to this beautiful nation. Conceição is a complicated opponent, but I want to be the best 130-pounder in the world, and for that I must face the best. I have never shied away from any rival. Whoever they put in front of me, 'Vaquero' Navarrete will always be ready to battle.”

 

Conceição (21-5 including the World Series of Boxing) made history as Brazil’s first Olympic boxing gold medalist at the 2016 Rio Games. In September 2021, he earned his first shot at a world title against Valdez, who was then the unbeaten WBC champ at junior lightweight. Though losing a close points verdict, he proved himself as a worthy title contender. Less than five months later, he traveled to Tulsa, Oklahoma, and upset the previously unbeaten Xavier Martinez over ten rounds. Conceição then had his second opportunity at a world title, an unsuccessful but valiant effort against Stevenson last September. Conceição will now get a third opportunity to call himself a world champion in the pro ranks.

 

“This is great opportunity in front of a great champion. I needed three Olympics Games to finally capture gold and become Olympic champ, and it looks like history is repeating itself. On November 16, I will fight to the end, and I will not miss this opportunity to become a world champion and once again bring gold to Brazil."

 

The ESPN+-streamed undercard will be highlighted by a battle between unbeaten welterweights as well as a host of emerging prospects. 

 

Brian Norman Jr. (24-0, 19 KOs) and Quinton Randall (13-0-1, 3 KOs) will collide in a ten-round battle of undefeated welterweights. Norman has boxing in his blood. His father, Brian Norman Sr., was a light heavyweight contender in a career spanning 30 bouts. The younger Norman is on the path to contender status as well, having bested Rodrigo Coria in January and Jesus Campos in May. Randall tallied a sixth-round TKO victory against Terry Chatwood in June and an eight-round decision versus Willie Jones in July.

 

In an eight-round junior featherweight duel between two Las Vegas prospects, Floyd “Cashflow” Diaz (9-0, 3 KOs) and Max Ornelas (15-1-1, 5 KOs) will battle for intra-city bragging rights. Diaz returns after beating Luis Fernando Saavedra on the Devin Haney-Vasiliy Lomachenko undercard in May, while Ornelas is coming off a highly controversial split decision loss against Hector Valdez last October. 

 

U.S. Olympian Troy Isley (10-0, 4 KOs) steps up in class in an eight-round middleweight fight against Mexico’s Vladimir Hernandez (14-5, 6 KOs). The 25-year-old had five victories in 2022. He heads into the biggest fight of his career after one-sided wins over Roy Barringer in April and Antonio Todd in July. Hernandez holds wins over Mexican action star Alfredo Angulo and former unified world champion Julian Williams. In August, he handed Lorenzo Simpson his first pro defeat.

 

19 year-old lightweight Abdullah Mason (10-0, 8 KOs) will make his fifth appearance of 2023 in a six-round fight against Texas’ Jose Cardenas (7-1, 5 KOs). Mason, from Cleveland, Ohio, is 4-0 with three knockouts this year.

 

Junior lightweight and Las Vegas native Andres Cortes (20-0, 11 KOs) takes on Nicaragua’s Freddy Fonseca (30-6-1, 20 KOs) in a ten-round tilt. Cortes was last seen notching his best victory to date, a seventh-round stoppage win over Xavier Martinez in July.

 

Kazakh Olympian Ablaikhan Zhussupov (4-0, 3 KOs) returns in a welterweight clash scheduled for eight rounds versus Mark Dawson (11-1-1, 4 KOs).