Emanuel Navarrete retains title with technical decision over Charly Suarez

SAN DIEGO: Mexico's Emanuel Navarrete successfully retained his WBO super-featherweight world title with an eighth-round technical decision victory over Charly Suarez on Saturday night at Pechanga Arena.

The bout was halted in the eighth round after an accidental clash of heads caused a deep cut above Navarrete's left eye, rendering him unable to continue.

As per boxing rules, the outcome was decided by the judges' scorecards, which all favored Navarrete: 76-75, 77-76, and 77-76.

Navarrete dominated the early rounds with his signature high-volume punching, outlanding Suarez in four of the first five rounds.

Navarrete while talking to the media after the match explained that he felt good, it was an unfortunate action that happened in the ring but he felt good and he knew it was the head-butt.

"I felt good. I felt strong. I felt complete," Navarrete, who needed extra time to make weight Friday, said after the fight.

"Unfortunately, what happened with the head-butt, obviously [the fight] ended like that. But while we were fighting, I felt good."

"From the first moment of the impact, I knew it was a head-butt," Navarrete said. "It split my eyebrow completely, and from the first moment I noticed it was a head-butt."

Despite the injury, Navarrete remained composed, although he visibly struggled with vision in his left eye for the remainder of the round as blood streamed down his face.

Looking ahead, the Mexican champion said his team would focus on recovery before deciding whether to stay in the 130-pound division or move up to 135 pounds.

"First, we're going to recover the cut that we have in the eyebrow," Navarrete said.

"We just need to adjust a few things, but obviously we're going to first take things calmly, make a decision and see if we want to stay at 130 or try again at 135 pounds," he concluded.