Eduardo "Sugar" Nunez has been instructed to fire his way toward an all-Mexican unification with Emanuel Navarrete by dispatching Christopher Diaz-Velez in style on Saturday night in Mexico.

Nunez, The Ring’s No.5-rated junior lightweight, traveled to Japan to win the IBF title via a hard-fought unanimous decision victory over home favorite Masanori Rikiishi in May.

His reward is a homecoming first defense against Diaz-Velez at the top of a mammoth Matchroom card in Los Mochis, Sinaloa.

His promoter, Eddie Hearn, is convinced that the 28-year-old is the best 130-pounder in the world and has now challenged him to prove it with an explosive performance against the two-time world title challenger from Pennsylvania.

Hearn says his primary target for Nunez is a showdown with The Ring’s No.2-rated Navarette (39-2-1, 32 KOs), who holds the WBO junior lightweight title and also scored a 12th-round knockout win over Diaz-Velez. Hearn has urged his man to produce an even more emphatic victory on Saturday night.

“I really want to make Nunez against Navarrete,” Hearn told The Ring. “I think it’s one of the best fights in boxing. That fight would be to ask the question, 'Who is the king of Mexico?' I just feel like Nunez is the new big star of Mexican boxing and he would prove it in that fight.

“The fight would be absolutely massive, but he has a job to do on Saturday night first. If he looks explosive, then the clamor for that fight would be huge. It’s two massive punchers in an IBF and WBO unification, an all-Mexican derby.

“The challenge for Sugar is to go and look spectacular and make that fight himself. It’s in Los Mochis, his hometown. There will be 7,000 there, completely banged out. It will be wild.”

Navarrete, still just 30, lost in his challenge for the WBO lightweight title against Denys Berinchyk in May 2024 and then decided to drop back down to 130 pounds. He claimed the title in his first fight back at the weight with a memorable stoppage against Oscar Valdez in December. His first defense, on May 10, ended in a no-contest because of a cut caused by an accidental headbutt.

Now Hearn is concerned that Navarrete might request a warm-up fight before facing Nunez.

“Maybe he will say he needs a fight before he fights Nunez so it would be a case of who is going to give him that fight," Hearn said. "I believe he is under contract with Top Rank.

“I could make a deal with Top Rank right now for the Nunez fight and I think we could complete that. But I just think Navarrete will say ‘I need a fight first’.”