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Carlos Navarro vs.
Bobby Pacquiao
On ESPN2 Friday Night Fights
By
Dave Bitar
FightBeat.com Staff Writer
The Table Mountain Casino in Friant, California,
plays host to ESPN2's Friday Night Fights this week, with the main event
expected to be a tough battle between newly crowned WBC Continental America's
super featherweight champion Carlos Navarro and challenger Bobby Pacquiao.
Navarro won the title last December with an
eleventh round stoppage over former WBO super bantamweight champion Agapito
Sanchez. It was one of the biggest victories in the career of Navarro, once a
very highly regarded U.S. amateur, who had previously been seen as having a
disappointing career since winning the WBU Super Bantamweight Title in 1998, a
title he only defended twice before losing a narrow decision to Carlos Contreras
a year later.
After rebuilding his career with four consecutive
victories, Navarro (26-3-1, 21 KO's) lost again in 2001, on a technical knockout
to Lamont Pearson. In his next two contests, Navarro had two more setbacks,
with an entertaining ten-round draw against young journeyman Omar Adorno - in
which all three judges scored the fight identically 95-95 - and a fifth round
stoppage loss to former title challenger Nate Campbell.
Navarro took nearly two full years off following
the tough defeat to Campbell, before coming back to the sport last year with new
trainer John Roberts. Navarro fought three times last year, which includes the
victory over Sanchez and a seventh-round stoppage over another former world
champion, Luisito Espinosa, who held world titles as a bantamweight and
featherweight.
The title-winning performance for Navarro came in
a high-profile pay-per-view undercard of WBC heavyweight champion Vitali
Klitschko's title defense against Danny Williams, and set up his fight on ESPN2
this Friday. It’s another opportunity for Navarro to show the fans that he
still has fight in him and that he’s better now than when he walked away from
the sport. If he is able to do that, promoter Roy Englebrecht said Wednesday
that the plan is for 2-3 more fights and then a shot at a world title.
To get there, he first needs to defeat Bobby
Pacquiao, the current Filipino super featherweight champion, with five defenses
of the title, who will be making his U.S. television debut in just his second
fight in the States.
While Pacquiao (22-11-3, 10 KO’s) has had very
little exposure in the U.S., he comes with a name most fight fans are familiar,
as he is the older brother - by two years - of former super bantamweight and
featherweight world champion Manny "The Destroyer" Pacquiao. Bobby also trains
under Freddie Roach, trainer of brother Manny and recognized as one of the top
trainers in the world.
Pacquiao is coming off a loss in his last fight,
a ninth-round stoppage to Phafrakorb Rakkietgym, and will need to be at his best
if he is to earn what would be the biggest victory of his career Friday night.
The bout is scheduled to start around
8:00 p.m.
local time, and will be televised nationally on ESPN2.
In the semi-main event will be middleweights
Jolison Dos Santos (8-1) and Danny Stanisavljevic (4-4) in an eight-round
contest. Also on the card will be cruiserweight, and former 2004 Mexican
Olympian, Ramiro Reducino (2-0) in a four-round contest and local fighter Raymon
Seja, who will be making his pro debut.
The fight card is promoted by K2 Promotions,
owned by WBC and Ring Magazine heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko and former
WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko, along with promoter Roy Englebrecht.
The card is the first promoted by the K2 banner that does not feature one of the
brothers on the card, but world champion Vitali Klitschko will be on hand Friday
night as a featured guest.
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