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2:42 AM ET

Emanuel Navarrete’s face looked clean, like he’d just completed a strenuous run. Across the ring, the face of Joet Gonzalez looked like it was going through what both men were actually doing Friday night — fighting for the WBO featherweight championship.

While Navarrete successfully defended his featherweight title with a 118-110, 116-112, 116-112 unanimous decision over Gonzalez, it was a constant action fight that could end up being a candidate for fight of the year.

Neither fighter went down — although the 26-year-old Navarrete (35-1, 29 KO) fell multiple times during the fight due to tripping. Both fighters threw a massive amount of punches instead of being more patient in what they tried to land.

“The difference was the conditioning,” Navarrete said through a translator after the fight on ESPN. “It was a pretty close fight but I think the conditioning was the difference.”

Navarrete won the fight, but Gonzalez showed how good of a fighter he can be. The 28-year-old Gonzalez (24-2, 14 KO) did what many other fighters cannot do — seemingly handle Navarrete’s high work rate well. At times, Gonzalez matched Navarrete’s constant flurries of punches with combinations of his own. It helped keep the fight competitive, even as Gonzalez’s face continued to get cut.

“It was a close fight. I thought I had the win,” Gonzalez said. “I hurt him, I believe, in the third or fourth round with a right hand. He buckled. Yeah, I thought I had the fight, man. I honestly did. I thought I had it seven rounds to five, eight rounds to four.

“I was really by that score, 118-110, I believe. But it is what it is, man. I came and I did my best.”

This, though, was the type of fight Navarrete wanted. After the victory he said he wants to be in big fights in the future and would be open to a rematch against Gonzalez — a fight Navarrete said he would win again.

Navarrete’s power started to show in the second round, when he first cut Gonzalez — a gash under Gonzalez’s right eye that became even bigger in the third round and appeared to re-open multiple times. After the cut was initially created by a left from Navarrete, Gonzalez’s cut man, Mike Bazzel, told ringside reporter Mark Kriegel that he was more concerned about the swelling underneath Gonzalez’ eye — swelling he worked on between almost every round.

“I felt good,” Gonzalez said. “He did catch me with a punch.”

Gonzalez said the swelling didn’t bother him much throughout the remainder of the fight. By the eighth round, Gonzalez’s white trunks had become partially pink and red. But Gonzalez, despite the cuts and the plethora of punches from Navarrete, continued to throw and land combinations. Gonzalez continued to handle whatever hard power punches Navarrete threw.

Despite the champion’s power, Gonzalez rarely appeared in real trouble of being knocked down.

“Without a doubt I hurt him but every single time he came back,” Navarrete said. “And he hurt me. A couple shots landed, hurt me during the fight.”

Navarrete threw 979 punches during the fight — an average of 81.6 per round. Almost half those punches — 406 of them — were jabs, a career-high in jabs thrown. He landed 272 punches (27.8 percent). Gonzalez threw 667 punches in the fight, an average of 55.6 per round, landing 169 (25.3 percent).

It was a work rate typical of a Navarrete fight, but something difficult to prepare for or truly understand due to the angles he throws punches from and the style he fights with. Gonzalez, in his second attempt at claiming a title, showed he can handle that — even if he didn’t win a belt.

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Prospects who impressed, teams who shocked us (for better or worse) at the 2025 World Juniors

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January 8, 2025

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Prospects who impressed, teams who shocked us (for better or worse) at the 2025 World Juniors

  • Rachel Doerrie, ESPNJan 8, 2025, 07:00 AM ET

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      Rachel Doerrie is a professional data consultant specializing in data communication and modelling. She’s worked in the NHL and consulted for professional teams across North American and Europe. She hosts the Staff & Graph Podcast and discusses sports from a data-driven perspective.

For the first time in history, the United States has successfully defended gold at the IIHF world junior championship.

Outstanding performances were the story of the tournament this year. For the first time in recent memory, there were no complaints of “too many blowouts” or “not enough parity.” Every team in the tournament was capable of a competitive game, making for a very unpredictable round robin and medal round.

From surprise upsets to last-minute goals to overtime thrillers and a shootout that lasted far too long, Ottawa put on a fantastic tournament from top to bottom.

In addition to the team competition, this was also a showcase for top prospects (both drafted and those who will be selected in 2025 and 2026), with execs and scouts from all 32 NHL teams in attendance. Here’s a look at players who stood out the most for each team, along with my take on each country’s overall performance:

Jump to a team:
Canada | Czechia
Finland | Germany
Latvia | Slovakia
Sweden | Switzerland
United States

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Sources: Verlander, Giants agree to 1-year deal

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14 hours ago

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January 8, 2025

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Sources: Verlander, Giants agree to 1-year deal

  • Jeff Passan

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    Jeff Passan

    Senior MLB Insider

      ESPN MLB insider
      Author of “The Arm: Inside the Billion-Dollar Mystery of the Most Valuable Commodity in Sports”

  • Jesse Rogers

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    Jesse Rogers

    ESPN Staff Writer

      Jesse joined ESPN Chicago in September 2009 and covers MLB for ESPN.com.

Jan 7, 2025, 07:32 PM ET

Right-hander Justin Verlander and the San Francisco Giants are in agreement on a one-year, $15 million contract, sources told ESPN on Tuesday, continuing the future Hall of Famer’s career at age 42 in one of the pitcher-friendliest stadiums in baseball.

Verlander, entering his 20th major league season, is considered perhaps the best pitcher of his generation, with the most innings pitched, strikeouts and wins among active players. A three-time Cy Young Award winner, Verlander is coming off the worst season of his career and joins a Giants team likewise looking for better results than 2024. The deal is pending a physical.

Shoulder and neck injuries limited Verlander to 17 starts, and over his last seven he posted an 8.10 ERA. With a falling strikeout rate and climbing home run rate, Verlander began to show signs of aging after a career in which he seemed impervious to it.

After a dominant 13-year stretch with the Detroit Tigers, Verlander found a second life after joining the Houston Astros in 2017. He won Cy Youngs in 2019 and 2022 — and after the latter signed a two-year, $86.6 million contract with the New York Mets. Verlander spent 16 starts with the Mets before being traded back to the Astros in August 2023.

Over his career, Verlander is 262-147 with a 3.30 ERA over 3,415⅔ innings. He has struck out 3,416 batters, walked 952 and won a pair of World Series with the Astros.

Returning to Houston wasn’t an option for 2025. With Oracle Park a dream for pitchers, Verlander gravitated toward the Giants, whose rotation includes right-hander Logan Webb, left-handers Robbie Ray and Kyle Harrison, and a number of other options for the fifth spot, with right-hander Hayden Birdsong seen as the likeliest candidate.

The Giants had spent a month with limited action before signing Verlander. A month ago to the day, they agreed with shortstop Willy Adames on a seven-year, $182 million contract.

San Francisco, which hired former star catcher Buster Posey as its president of baseball operations in September, went 80-82 last season and finished in fourth place in the National League West, which is arguably the best division in baseball.

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Mtn. West adds N. Illinois as football-only in ’26

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17 hours ago

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January 7, 2025

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Mtn. West adds N. Illinois as football-only in '26

  • Kyle Bonagura, ESPN Staff WriterJan 7, 2025, 04:12 PM ET

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    • Covers college football.
    • Joined ESPN in 2014.
    • Attended Washington State University.

Northern Illinois will join the Mountain West as a football-only member in 2026, the school and conference announced Tuesday.

“What a great opportunity for NIU Athletics as we expand our horizons, adapt to this new national model of college athletics and prepare to start a new chapter in the history of NIU Football,” NIU athletic director Sean T. Frazier said in a statement.

In addition to NIU, the Mountain West will include Air Force, Hawai’i, UNLV, Nevada, New Mexico, San Jose State and Wyoming in 2026.

The move is another fallen domino in college sports’ ongoing conference realignment process that caught up to the Mountain West in the fall, when Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State and Utah State announced they were leaving for the new-look Pac-12, which collapsed in 2023.

“We are excited about adding Northern Illinois football to the Mountain West,” commissioner Gloria Nevarez said in a statement. “In evaluating NIU, the MW Board of Directors and Directors of Athletics carefully considered and were impressed by its history of football success and its commitment to academic excellence.”

It is unclear what conference NIU’s remaining sports will compete in once it moves to the Mountain West for football. The school said it will continue discussions with the Mid-American Conference — where it has participated since 1997 — but will also review opportunities in “several of the regionally based multi-sport conferences.”

The Mountain West also recently announced the additions of Grand Canyon and UC Davis for sports other than football (Grand Canyon does not have football; Davis will remain at the FCS level).

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