All accounts indicated that the all-Mexico matchup would be a razor-thin affair that featured two-way fire in a fight of the year frontrunner.

Once the dust settled in their Wild West duel, the more experienced Navarrete shed his betting underdog status and emerged as the winner by viciously outclassing and busting his rival in a bout that wasn’t too competitive.

Navarrete (40-2-1, 33 KOs, 1 NC) came in as the WBO champion and snatched the IBF title away from Nunez (29-2, 27 KOs) in their junior lightweight title unification fight at the Desert Diamond Arena.

Navarrete nullified Nunez in the first half of the fight and tattered his rival's right eye nearly shut with target practice in the second half, forcing the ringside physician to stop the action after 10 mostly one-sided rounds.

The official time of the technical knockout came one second into the 11th round.

"It's been a dream to be here and unify the titles. I've been waiting for a long time for this opportunity," said Navarrete. "Nunez was a warrior. It's difficult to see your opponent hurt in there, but it's even more difficult not to continue to win the fight. You never know what could have happened in the last rounds. He could catch me with a shot, and it could be over. So I needed to continue to do my work."

Navarrete outlanded Nunez 236 to 140 – 80 of the punches came in the last two rounds before the fight was stopped.

"Vaquero" Navarrete came into the clash ranked as The Ring’s No. 2 contender at 130 pounds, and "Sugar" Nunez was rated No. 4, but it was evident from the beginning that Navarrete was in a class of his own.

Nunez came out with a curious gameplan fighting off his back foot and looking to counterpunch, but Navarrete nimbly navigated around the retreating to comfortably bank the first four rounds.

Navarrete buzzed Nunez at the end of the third round with his patented wild left uppercut and immediately followed with a left hook. The hard shots did damage and softened Nunez. By the fourth, Nunez’s right eye was cut.

It was a sign of bad things to come.

After showing Navarrete too much respect, Nunez flipped the switch in the fifth and stormed off his stool to swing violently, much like he’s known for. Navarrete was unbothered, however, and the wily veteran weathered the storm by catching the suddenly greedy Nunez as needed.

Nunez broke Navarrete’s guard in the sixth and was hellbent on banging the body. Nunez pushed Navarrete against the ropes, but Navarrete leveraged his four-inch reach advantage to attack over the top.

While the resilient Nunez was working the body – he landed 72 shots in the area overall – Navarrete focused on the face of a bloodied Nunez, which continued to pay dividends in rounds seven and eight.

Navarrete really started separating himself in the ninth, as he rocked Nunez with rocket right hands and a whipping left hand to shut his rival’s right eye.

A ringside physician inspected Nunez's eye before the 10th round but allowed the fight to continue. Nunez made a cross gesture across his chest with his right glove, seemingly looking for an act from God to get back into the fight, but within 40 seconds, Navarrete busted Nunez's damaged eye and blood started pouring profusely.

Navarrete continued to dominate Nunez with one-way traffic once the punches became even more difficult to see.

One second into the 11th round, referee Benjamin Rodriguez asked for the doctor to take another look, and this time the damage was too much for Nunez to continue, and the fight was waved off.

"I knew that Navarrete was the strongest fighter at 130 pounds," said Nunez. "Nothing surprised me. I told him before that I was a fan and admired him, and it was an honor to face him. I would have liked to finish the fight, but didn't get that opportunity."

On paper, Navarrete-Nunez had all of the makings to ignite another all-Mexican rivalry, an element the sport has been missing since the trilogy between Marco Antonio Barrera and Erik Morales and the quadrilogy between Rafael Marquez and Israel Vazquez. But considering the one-sided nature of the fight, a rematch isn’t necessary.

Navarrete, 31, can now zero in on Top Rank promotional stablemate and WBC champion O'Shaquie Foster to further unify titles in the division. Foster was ringside Saturday as an interested observer. Jazza Dickens is the other beltholder in the division and faces Anthony Cacace on March 14. The Ring title is vacant.

"It's premature to think about what's next," said Navarrete. "There are many things that I have gone through to get here, too many to explain. I feel like I got back the heart, the guts of a Mexican warrior. I want to continue to show this version of myself."

The dominant nature of the fight certainly revived Navarrete's standing in the sport.

Navarrete, a three-division crownholder who's held a belt since 2018, came into clash off a stretch of uneven results over the last 27 months against Charly Suarez (No Contest), Oscar Valdez (KO6); Denys Berinchyk (split decision loss) and Robson Conceicao (majority draw).

Nunez’s loss ended a two-fight title run and a 19-fight winning streak. It was his first loss since suffering a six-round decision defeat in Mexico eight years ago.

"I want to continue to grow from this defeat," said Nunez. "This is just the start for me. I want to become a world champion again."