The protagonists of considered one of boxing’s most iconic trilogies will probably be in attendance this week as Mexico prepares to crown a brand new king.
Mexican legends Marco Antonio Barrera and Erik Morales will probably be readily available for the combat week festivities main as much as the WBO junior light-weight world title showdown between reigning champion Emanuel Navarrete and former two-division world champion Oscar Valdez this Saturday, August 12, at Desert Diamond Area in Glendale, Arizona.
Navarrete-Valdez, the Raymond Muratalla-Diego Torres light-weight co-feature, and the heavyweight showdown between Richard Torrez Jr. and Willie Jake Jr. will probably be broadcast reside on ESPN, ESPN Deportes and ESPN+ at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT.
Promoted by Prime Rank, tickets are on sale now at Ticketmaster.com.
The Barrera-Morales trilogy started on Feb. 19, 2000, as reigning WBC tremendous bantamweight world champion Morales secured a razor-tight cut up choice victory towards WBO champion Barrera in a historic back-and-forth tussle that was named Ring Journal Battle of the Yr. Half 2 befell on June 22, 2002, with Barrera capturing the WBC featherweight title through unanimous choice in a verdict that had pundits and followers cut up.
Of their November 2004 rubber match, Barrera emerged victorious for a second time, dethroning then-WBC tremendous featherweight champion Morales by majority choice in one other Ring Journal Battle of the Yr. Since then, their trilogy has impressed future generations, together with Navarrete and Valdez, who will go toe-to-toe as they try and etch their names among the many most storied all-Mexican showdowns.
“To know that two legends from an necessary Mexican trilogy will probably be there throughout combat week provides us some added strain,” Navarrete mentioned. “They set the bar actually excessive. What they did is tough to do, not to mention surpass. However Valdez and I’ve what it takes to go away an analogous mark.”
“The followers wish to see a combat like those between Morales and Barrera,” Valdez mentioned. “Each time there’s a combat between Mexicans, it’s an awesome battle, and this gained’t be the exception. I all the time inform those who I grew up in the course of the period of Morales and Barrera. They impressed me to be the fighter that I’m as we speak. So, to go away one thing related in historical past would imply the world to me.”
