Emanuel Navarrete and Denys Berinchyk both weighed in successfully on Friday for their 12-round battle for the vacant WBO lightweight title this Saturday night, May 18th, at the Pechanga Arena in San Diego, California. This is a Top Rank event, and it’ll be shown live on ESPN and ESPN+ at 10:30 p.m. ET/7:30 p.m. PT.
– Emanuel Navarrete 135
– Denys Berinchyk 134.8
– Giovani Santillan 146.4
– Brian Norman Jr. 146.5
Navarrete’s Ambitions
The favorite in this fight, Navarrete (38-1-1, 31 KOs) weighed in at 135 lbs. 2012 Olympic silver medalist #1 WBO Berinchyk (22-0, 9 KOs) weighed 134.8 lbs. Navarrete is coming up in weight from 130 to go after his fourth division world title. He still holds a belt at 130 with the WBO.
If Navarrete is victorious, which I think he will be, he’s got a good chance of fighting IBF lightweight champion Vasily Lomachenko next. Top Rank promoter Bob Arum mentioned Navarrete as one of the possibilities for Lomachenko to fight next
Navarrete is going to have to fight a lot better against Berinchyk than he did in his last contest against Robson Conceição because he was held to a 12-round draw in that fight in a title defense of his WBO super featherweight belt. Navarrete appeared to lose, but the judges gave him a gift decision.
‘Vaquero’ Navarrete can’t count on the judges or the referees bailing him out every time, as he deserved a loss to Conceicao and a knockout defeat against Liam Wilson. If those fights were officiated correctly, Navarrete would be going into Saturday’s fight with a 1-2 record in his last three fights, and his career on shaky ground.
Santillan vs. Norman Jr. for Interim WBO Welterweight Title
In the chief support bout on this career, highly ranked #1 WBO Giovanni Santillan (32-0, 17 KOs) weighed in at 146.4 lbs, and his opponent Brian Norman Jr. (25-0, 19 KOs) weighed in at 146.5 lbs for their fight for the WBO interim welterweight title.
It’s unclear why the World Boxing Organization hasn’t stripped welterweight champion Terence Crawford of his title. He doesn’t intend on returning to the division, and he’s just sitting on his WBO belt. It’s pointless for him to hold onto it if he’s not going to defend it.
Anyway, the winner of the Santillan vs. Norman Jr. fight will likely be elevated to full champion after the WBO eventually gets around to stripping Crawford, which can’t come soon enough.
Preliminary Weights
Richard Torrez 229.9 vs. Brandon Moore 229.4
Jonny Mansour 134 vs. Anel Dudo 130.8
Emiliano Fernando Vargas 139.6 vs. Angel Varela 140
Alan Garcia 137.8 vs. Wilfredo Flores 136.9
Jonathan Lopez 127.1 vs. Edgar Ortega 127.6
Art Barrera Jr. 146 vs. Levy Garcia Benitez 143.9
