Emanuel Navarrete and Robson Conceicao fought to a majority draw in the co-feature to Shakur Stevenson vs Edwin De Los Santos.
Navarrete, the reigning WBO junior lightweight world champion, retained his title in a hard-fought battle.
The three-division Mexican champ struggled with Conceição’s movement. He eventually found him in the fourth round with combinations around his guard that dropped the Brazilian Olympic gold medalist.
Conceição showed heart and endurance, returning to exchange in the center of the ring in round five.
He often caught Navarrete with counter right hands and seemed to gain momentum, but he was sent to the canvas again in the seventh round.
Conceição thrived in the later rounds, going blow for blow until the final seconds of the twelfth round.
Emanuel Navarrete vs Robson Conceicao
According to CompuBox, Conceicao threw 365 more punches and landed 97 more punches than Navarrete.
Conceicao’s 112 landed jabs are the most by any opponent against Navarrete. Unfortunately for Conceicao, Navarrete’s punches were harder.
Navarrete dropped Conceicao in the fourth and seventh rounds. He hurt Conceicao several times. Even in the rounds, Conceicao went down, he outworked Navarrete.
“In only one round did Navarrete out-land Conceicao- the eleventh round by five punches.
At the end of the contest, one judge had it 114-112 for Navarrete. Two scores of 113-113 overruled this.
Speaking after the fight, Navarrete said: “The decision is well-deserved. Robson is a great fighter. He left his heart in the ring.
“There were some details about technique, but we accomplished what we said we would do. We gave a great show for the fans. And, at least, I am very happy to come away with the title.”
Will there be a rematch?
On a possible second fight, he added: “He deserves the rematch, but that decision doesn’t depend one hundred percent on me. But, if it does happen, I would train even better.
“He knows how I fight, and I know how he fights, so it would make for an excellent fight.”
In addition, Conceicao stated: “It was a hard fight. He is very strong. It wasn’t easy. But I know what I did tonight.
“It was a good fight. It deserves a rematch. If we do get the rematch, we will both train harder and will give an even better fight.”
