Emanuel Navarrete Scores TKO Win Over Francisco Horta To Retain WBO Super Bantamweight Title

Emanuel Navarrete caps off a very busy past four months with another quick stoppage win.

The WBO super bantamweight champion returned home to Mexico on December 7 and stopped Francisco Horta to retain the belt in the main event of a Top Rank on ESPN+ card in Puebla. 

From the start, Navarrete went after Horta, punishing him with vicious combinations and not giving him any chance to retaliate. Navarrete landed a flurry of punches midway through the fourth round and a straight left stunned Horta, eventually leading to the referee stopping the fight as Horta was getting hit with too many clean shots.

This was Navarrete’s fourth title defense this year and third since the start of August. In August, Navarrete stopped Francisco De Vaca in the third round of their bout and then later beat Juan Miguel Elorde back on September 14. 

In the co-main event, Jerwin Ancajas, the super flyweight division’s longest-reigning active titleholder, dominated Miguel Gonzalez with a sixth-round stoppage win. Ancajas continuously landed left hooks to the body, but it was an uppercut in the sixth that was the beginning of the end of the fight. That uppercut staggered and hurt Gonzalez, who was unable to do anything but use the ropes to keep himself from getting knocked down. Ancajas then threw a series of power punches that finished with a left hook that forced the referee to step in and stop the fight. 

In undercard action, Miguel Marriaga defeated Alfredo Mejia Vargas with a thunderous left hook to Vargas’ liver that sent him to the canvas writhing in pain and in no position to continue. Marriaga, a former world title challenger, has now won four straight bouts.

Here are the results of the December 7 Top Rank on ESPN+ card from Puebla, Mexico:

• Emanuel Navarrete defeated Francisco Horta by TKO, round 4 to retain the WBO super bantamweight title
• Jerwin Ancajas defeated Miguel Gonzalez by TKO, round 6 to retain the IBF super flyweight title
• Miguel Marriaga defeated Alfredo Mejia Vargas by KO, round 6