Emanuel Navarrete overwhelmed Oscar Valdez in Saturday night's rematch.

A determined and aggressive Navarrete stunned in his return to the 130-pound division by pounding Valdez to the head and body in the main event of a 10-fight card at the Footprint Center in Phoenix. Navarrete dropped Valdez in the first, fourth and sixth rounds and became the first opponent to stop the former two-division champion inside the distance.

Navarette Valdez's left body fell for the third time with 30 seconds left in the sixth round. Raul Caiz Jr. the referee counted out at 2:42 of the sixth round.

Mexico's Navarrete (39-2-1, 32 KOs) retained his WBO junior lightweight title by subduing the brave Valdez. Navarrete resurrected his career after dropping a 12-round points loss to Ukraine's Denys Berinchy at 135 pounds in his previous fight and a 12-round majority draw with Brazil's Robson Conceicao at 12 rounds, 130-. pound championship fight before Berinchy won.

Valdez (32-3, 24 KOs) lost by knockout for the first time in his 12-year, 35-fight professional career. The two-time Mexican Olympian's only losses before Saturday night were unanimous 12-point defeats to Navarette in August 2023 and Shakur Stevenson in April 2022.

Valdez, 34, was close to tears as he apologized to fans who had traveled from Mexico to watch the rematch.

"We tried to get the win," Valdez told ESPN's Bernardo Osuna in the ring. "We really wanted it. We trained very hard for this. I just want to say that I feel sorry for all those people who came here from all over, Sonora, Nogales, Phoenix to see me. … I wish I could have gotten a better result. Thanks for coming here to help. Maybe next time."

Valdez sprained his right ankle when he went down from a first-round punch. He later admitted, however, that Navarrete was much more the reason for the TKO loss.

"We slipped, fell and messed up our ankle a little bit," Valdez said. "But that's no excuse. (Navarroa) is a great champion. I take my hat off to him.'

Navarrete admitted to boxrec.com that their second fight wasn't as easy as it historically seems.

"Look, Oscar Valdez was very strong in this fight," Navarrete said. “And he kept going, so all I had to do was stop and pull him back. Because if you let Valdez come to you, coming downhill, it will be a long night.'

The beginning of the end came Saturday night when another vicious left uppercut from Navarrete put Valdez on the ropes with about 1:20 left in the sixth round. Valdez tried to fight back, but Navarrete nailed him with the aforementioned left to the body, bringing the action to an abrupt halt.

Navarrete's violent attack continued in the fifth lap. The champion caught Valdez with several punishing blows in those three minutes, with a crushing left uppercut that knocked Valdez's mouthpiece to the canvas with just seconds left in the fifth round.

A left hook from Navarrete knocked Valdez off balance and into a corner with just over 1:40 left in the fourth round. Valdez steadied himself before going down and struggled to make the rest of the fourth round competitive.

Before the bell rang to end the fourth round, however, Navarrete landed multiple right hands on a retreating Valdez, who fell to the canvas for the second time in their fight.

After getting knocked down in the second round, Valdez went at Navarrete with vigor, connecting with big punches that helped temporarily halt Navarrete's momentum. The taller, heavier and stronger Navarrete landed a right hand on Valdez's vulnerable temple, dropping him to gloves and knees with 25 seconds left in the first round. Navarrete was much more effective as soon as this rematch started than when he lost to Berinchyk.