The unification fight between Eduardo Nunez and Emmanuel Navarre is scheduled for March 7

2025 is coming to an end, but in the first quarter of 2026, a much-anticipated world boxing championship unification battle has already taken place.

It is reported that after many rounds of tug-of-war, all terms for the IBF and WBO super featherweight world boxing title (130 pounds) unification fight between Eduardo Nunez and Emmanuel Navarrete have been agreed upon. The “all-Mexico” hit is scheduled to air on DAZN on March 7 at the newly renamed Mortgage Matchup Center, home of the NBA’s Phoenix Suns.

"Ring" magazine was the first to reveal that the contract had been dropped.

The news comes just 24 hours after the WBO issued a 15-day ultimatum - the organization ordered both parties to resolve it as soon as possible during the ratings session of its 38th annual meeting in Bogota on Thursday. The real obstacle is not the two fighters, but how to appease the Filipino Charlie Suarez who originally had the mandatory rematch. Navarrete and Suarez are both owned by Top Rank, while Nunes is co-promoted by Matchroom and BXSTRS. On Thursday, representatives from both parties submitted the latest progress to the WBO at the annual meeting.

Navarrete (39 wins, 2 losses, 1 draw, 32 KOs) fought Suarez (18 wins, 0 losses, 10 KOs) in San Diego on May 10 this year. The fight ended with a technical decision, and the ending caused huge controversy. Suarez's team insists the referee robbed them of a TKO victory they should have received, thereby missing out on the WBO belts. Suarez then appealed to the California Athletic Commission, and a hearing in June successfully changed the result to "no result," but the gold belt still fell away.

The WBO immediately ordered a rematch, but there was no movement after several weeks. It turns out that Navarrete has already set his sights on Nunes (29-1, 27 KO), who just defeated Christopher Diaz in his hometown of Los Mochis on September 6. On Friday, after Suarez's team received satisfactory "give way" compensation, the green light was finally given for the unification battle.

That victory over Diaz was also Nunes' first defense of the IBF title after winning the IBF throne in Yokohama, Japan on May 28.

For the three-division world champion Navarrete, the unification fight has always been an obsession - he was previously blocked twice at 122 pounds and 126 pounds, but now he finally got his wish at 130 pounds. In addition, he has a deep connection with the greater Phoenix area: the WBO 130-pound title fight and first defense were both held at the Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale-in February 2023, he reversed Liam Wilson in the ninth round, and defeated Oscar Valdez in 12 rounds in August. This time we play in the same arena, but the name has been changed to the Mortgage Matchup Center (named in early October by United Wholesale Mortgage Company, whose CEO Matt Isiba is the owner of the Suns and WNBA Mercury).

This also means that Navarrete will occupy the venue's last two boxing competitions in a row. There will be no boxing here in 2024, but there will be three in 2023: In addition to his six-round revenge against Valdez on December 7, half a year ago Jesse "Bam" Rodriguez reversed Juan Francisco Estrada in the seventh round in the same ring to be crowned the second 115-pound world champion.