Denys Berinchyk (19-0, 9 KOs) pulled off the upset win tonight in Top Rank’s main event on ESPN, beating Emanuel Navarrete (38-2-1, 31 KOs) on split decision scores of 116-112, 115-113, and 112-116. With the win Berinchyk wins the vacant WBO world title at lightweight.
The fight, if I’m being completely honest, wasn’t the easiest to watch with a lot of awkward and sloppy action and not a lot of clean landed punches — as evidenced by the lack of highlights.
While Navarrete had the clear power edge in the fight, Berinchyk was the superior operator which allowed him to land punches even if there wasn’t much effective damage being done from him. Either way, Berinchyk was able to rack up enough points to take the edge over Navarrete.
In the post-fight Navarrete admitted that it’s no secret that he has to improve his technique going forward and made no immediate commitment as to whether he’ll remain at lightweight or attempt to move back down to 130.
Berinchyk, however, now has some career momentum with him snagging a belt at 135, and mentioned the potential of him fighting Shakur Stevenson.
Brian Norman Jr TKO-10 Giovani Santillan (1:33)
Brian Norman Jr (26-0, 20 KOs)had a career best win tonight, weathering the pressure from Giovani Santillan (32-1, 17 KOs) to steadily break him down until he was in control by the mid point of the fight. Santillan was intent on applying relentless pressure on Norman, but Norman was prepared to meet Santillan with punches as he came in.
Norman would open up a cut on both sides of Santillan’s face, before dropping Santillian in the tenth. Santillan would get up and ask to continue but Norman finished the fight with an emphatic left uppercut that put Santillan down and out. With the win Norman takes the WBO’s interim welterweight title.