Emanuel Navarrete beat Liam Wilson to win a world title in a third weight class, but had to come off the canvas in an absolute war with the Australian underdog.

Navarrete (37-1, 31 KO) was coming up to 130 lbs for the first time, having already won world titles at 122 and 130, and Wilson (13-2, 7 KO) was a substitute opponent for him giving little chance by the oddsmakers, replacing the originally scheduled Oscar Valdez.

But if Wilson had one clear weapon coming into the fight, it was a dangerous and powerful left hand, and in round four, Navarrete felt that shot, walking onto a huge bomb from Wilson that eventually led to the Mexican favorite hitting the canvas.

There was some controversy there, as Navarrete spit his mouthpiece out somewhere around the count of eight, which bought him some extra time that the referee didn’t seem too concerned about speeding up. In the end, Navarrete barely got out of the round with Wilson trying to close the show.

Navarrete still wasn’t steady to start round five, but he was able to get his legs back underneath him, and he started coming on. He walked into another big left hand later, and it became clear that this was a fight where both guys were going to have to take a real risk. Navarrete’s best approach was being aggressive, but it was also the approach that left him most vulnerable to Wilson’s big shots.

Navarrete started coming on really strong in the eighth round, and in the ninth, he put the pedal to the metal, dropping Wilson early in the round and then finishing him at 1:57 of round nine when the referee stopped the fight, as Wilson was absorbing a ton of punishment and just reeling at that point.

It was a tremendous effort that Wilson should be enormously proud of, and another huge win for Navarrete, who is establishing himself as a clear great for Mexican boxing in his era.

“I’m made of strength, power, heart, and that Mexican spirit that never lets me down,” Navarrete told ESPN’s Bernardo Osuna. “Liam is a great warrior. He came here to win and landed that great shot on me, and it stunned. But I was able to settle myself down, and once that happened, I was able to get the victory.”

“This was an amazing victory because it tested me. I needed to know I was capable of going to the canvas, getting up, and coming out the victor, and now I know I’m capable of doing that, and in great fashion.”

Navarrete now actively holds world titles in two division, as he still has the WBO featherweight title, and will have a decision to make about what division he intends to fight in next. There probably are bigger fights available at 130, including rescheduling the intended clash with Oscar Valdez.

Valdez congratulated Navarrete post-fight in the ring, and said he’d like to come back to Arizona and make that fight happen as they had planned.

“We want an Erik Morales vs Marco Antonio Barrera (style) fight again, and I think ‘Vaquero’ Navarrete’s style and my style would be a perfect,” Valdez said. “We want to fight. Let’s make it happen.”

“Tonight I came up a bit short and I’m disappointed, but I knocked him down in the fourth round and I believe the count was a bit long,” Wilson said. “We’ll have to review it. I thought I won the fight in that sense, because I thought it was about a 20-second count. I want to come back. I love to fight, I love challenges, and I’ll fight another champion any day of the week.”

Wilson added that he wants to “get (the count) reviewed,” and said, “He’s a tough champion, all due respect to him. This is boxing and stuff happens. But all credit to him, I hope he goes on to do great things. I’ll be back, make no mistake about it. I love these hard fights. You won’t see me in an easy fight.”