For the third time in the span of less than 120 days, Emanuel Navarrete will step into the ring to defend his WBO super bantamweight title.
Top Rank announced that Navarrete will defend his world title against Francisco Horta on December 7. The fight will headline an ESPN+ card at the Auditorio GNP Seguros in the city of Puebla, Mexico.
This will be Navarrete's third title defense since August and fourth overall this year. Navarrete first won the title in December 2018 when he scored a unanimous decision win against Isaac Dogboe. After Navarrete won the rematch against Dogboe this past May, he would go on to defend his title with wins against Francisco De Vaca on August 17 and against Juan Miguel Elorde on September 14.
Horta, ranked No. 13 by the WBO at 122 pounds, has won his last 10 fights and is unbeaten in his last 13 bouts. Horta has only fought once this year, a majority decision win against Francisco Alarcon on August 10, and will be fighting in a scheduled 12-round fight for the first time in his career.
Also announced for the card is Jerwin Ancajas defending his IBF super flyweight title against Miguel Gonzalez. Ancajas is the super flyweight division's longest-reigning active titleholder, having held the IBF belt since 2016 and is making his eighth title defense. Ever since Gonzalez lost a WBA title eliminator against Andrew Moloney back in March, he has won two straight fights.
The opening bout of the ESPN+ main card is an eight-round featherweight bout between former world title challenger Miguel Marriaga and Alfredo Mejia Vargas.
