Emanuel Navarrete disagrees with Bob Arum about his promotional plan.

Not for what Arum has in store for Navarrete, but for his rival, Oscar Valdez. Arum told The Ring after Navarrete knocked out Valdez in the sixth round of their rematch Dec. 7 in Phoenix that he wants him to retire and focus on training fighters and/or a broadcasting career.

Navarrete would prefer to watch Valdez make another run in the junior lightweight division before the former WBO featherweight and former WBC super featherweight champion calls it a career.

Valdez (32-2, 24 KOs), a two-time Olympian for Nogales, Mexico, has endured several brutal fights, most memorably his slugfest against Scott Quigg seven years ago when he fought through a broken jaw to win a unanimous decision.

“I know he’s had some tough fights, but he’s still good,” Navarrete told The Ring. “I never said that he should retire. [Juan Manuel] Marquez retired when he was, what, 40 years old? [Floyd] Mayweather and [Manny] Pacquiao [kept fighting]. There could still be a lot for him to do in the sport of boxing. He can maybe modify some things so that he can deliver in the future.”

Navarrete (39-2-1, 32 KOs) will fight for the first time Saturday night since he knocked out Valdez. The 30-year-old, three-division champion is scheduled to defend his WBO 130-pound championship against undefeated Filipino Charly Suarez (18-0, 10 KOs) in a 12-round main event ESPN will televise from Pechanga Arena in San Diego.

ESPN’s doubleheader is scheduled to begin at 10 p.m. ET. Zaur Abdullaev (20-1, 12 KOs), a Russian-born boxer who resides in Armenia, and Raymond Muratalla (22-0, 17 KOs), of Fontana, California, will fight for the IBF interim lightweight title in the network’s 12-round opener.

Arum will sit ringside to watch Navarrete try to win at the same venue where he lost a 12-round split decision to then-unbeaten Ukrainian Denys Berinchyk (19-1, 9 KOs) in their fight for the WBO lightweight title in May 2024. After seeing Navarrete batter Valdez during his following fight, the 93-year-old promoter would prefer for him to walk away with his wealth and health intact.

“I think that he’s such a nice young man,” Arum said, “and he’s really so articulate because he speaks perfect English as well as perfect Spanish. I think he should consider becoming a trainer. His style is such that he takes a tremendous number of punches in every fight because he’s so aggressive.”

Navarrete became the first opponent in Valdez’s 12-year career to knock him out. He dropped Valdez once apiece in the first, fourth and sixth rounds of a one-sided bout at Footprint Center.