Denys Berinchyk (23-0, 9 KOs) took favorite Emanuel Navarrete (38-2-1, 31 KOs) to school on Saturday night, outboxing him to win a 12-round split decision to claim the vacant WBO lightweight title at the Pechanga Arena in San Diego, California.
The scores were:
116-112: Navarrete
115-113: Berinchyk
116-112: Berinchyk
Navarrete didn’t looked good at any point in the fight, as he was outclassed by the 2012 Olympic silver medalist Berinchyk, who had a Lomachenko-esque style that gave the former three division world champion fits.
Navarrete landed a small handful of shots in the 11th, but other than that, it was all Berinchyk. As the fight progressed, Navarrete looked frustrated and discouraged at his inability to mount any type of offense against the slick, hard-to-hit Berinchyk.
Navarrete was getting hit a lot, and being made to pay for every shot he threw. When Navarrete did attempt to open up on his offense like he normally does, Berichyck was taking advantage of his aggressiveness by countering him with beautiful shots and making him miss.
Start time for main card: 10:30 p.m. ET, broadcast live on ESPN and ESPN+.
Undercard results will be posted below for tonight’s fight results from the Pechanga Arena.
Welterweight Brian Norman Jr. (26-0, 20 KOs) destroyed Giovanni Santillan (32-1, 17 KOs) by a tenth round knockout to claim the interim WBO 147-lb title. Norman Jr. knocked Santillan down twice in the tenth to get the knockout. The time of the stoppage was at the 1:33 mark.
The 23-year-old Norman Jr. looked relaxed in rounds one through five, staying calm despite Santillan keeping him pinned to the ropes and under fire.
Where the tide started to turn was late in the fifth when Norman. Jr. landed a huge right uppercut to the head of Santillan. In rounds six through eight, Norman Jr. continued to load up with shots, giving Santillan huge problems.
In round eight, Norman Jr. hit Santillan with a right uppercut that caused his nose to bleed like a sieve. It was bleeding like a man and wasn’t stopping.
The punishment got worse for Santillan in the ninth when he was staggered by an uppercut from Norman Jr. Somehow, Santillan made it through the round, but he looked in bad shape when he came out for the tenth. The bleeding hadn’t stopped from his nose, and his face was swollen.
With the win, Norman Jr. will likely be upgraded to full WBO welterweight champion after Terence Crawford fights WBA junior middleweight champion Israil Madrimov on August 3rd. If Crawford wins, he’s not expected to return to 147, meaning the WBO belt that he holds will be stripped and given to Norman Jr.
Heavyweight Richard Torrez (10-0, 10 KOs) scored a fifth-round knockout over Brandon Moore (14-1, 8 KOs). Torrez dropped the tall 6’6″ Moore in the fifth round with a flurry of shots. The contest was halted after a follow up barrage of heavy shots from the 24-year-old Torrez.
Lightweight Jonny Mansour (1-0) beat Anel Dudo (3-6, 1 KO) by a four round unanimous decision. The judges’ scores were 40-36, 40-36, and 40-36.
Light welterweight prospect Emiliano Vargas (10-0, 8 KOs) defeated Angel Varela (10-3, 7 KOs) by a sixth-round TKO. The time of the stoppage was at 1:01.
