KEYSHAWN Davis is the new WBO lightweight champion after a one-sided takedown of Denys Berinchyk, culminating in a fourth-round stoppage at the Madison Square Garden Theater, New York.
Referee Harvey Dock waved the bout off at 1-45 as Berinchyk, dropped for the second time to the body, remained on his knees, unable to to continue defending his brief status as a belt holder.
“Honestly, I never really had problems with awkward fighters, the only thing that kept giving me a little trouble is how he kept jumping in and out and was a little faster than I expected,” said Davis, who joked earlier that the knockout was a response to the crowd chanting Norfolk.
Coming out switch-hitting with plenty of movement, it was immediately apparent that the champion was significantly smaller. It was a messily awkward opening round where referee Dock did the majority of the legwork trying to create a boxing match.
The 25-year-old challenger from Norfolk, Virginia, complained of some push-down tactics at the close of the second. Berinchyk, 36, a former Olympian like his opponent, was felled in the third by a scraping left hook to the body. The Ukrainian ruefully shook his head as Harvey Dock doled out an early count.
Fuelled by the animosity of midweek shenanigans that included an ugly racial incident, Keyshawn Davis managed to maintain the right balance of aggression and composure as he hunted Berinchyk down. Davis’ corner instructed their man to avoid a firefight with a flagging opponent sporting a bloodied nose just seconds into round four.
Berinchyk was down again in that same round, unable to beat the count as a second Davis body shot left him in a heap, counted out. This was the first (and last) defence of the WBO lightweight crown Berinchyk had won against Emanuel Navarrete. Keyshawn’s bodywork was exceptional.
The unused judges were Guido Cavalleri, Max DeLuca and Nicolas Esnault. Denys Berinchyk is now 19-1 (9 KOs), while the winner, Keyshawn Davis, improved to 13-0 (9 KOs) with the world at his feet.
The new king revealed that some prescient advice from multi-division champion Terence Crawford led to the ending.
“He [Crawford] told me it was gonna be a body shot. He kept telling me to double my shots up. Terence is definitely family, man, all love for sure.”
As for what’s next, Davis called out, “Anyone who has got the balls to step in the ring to fight me!”
