Keyshawn Davis is the new WBO lightweight champion, claiming the title against Denys Berinchyk on February 14. The pair battled it out atop the Top Rank boxing fight card at The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Davis (13-0, 9 KOs) from Norfolk, VA defeated fellow Olympic silver medalist Berinchyk (19-1, 9 KOs) from Ukraine by knockout with body shots. Berinchyk suffered a knockdown in the third round from a left hand and went down for the second time at 1:45 into the fourth.
“It was an amazing feeling,” Davis said post-fight. “Right before I knocked him out, I was hearing the crowd saying, ‘Norfolk! Norfolk! Norfolk!’ I was like, ‘I’ve got to knock him out now! Boom!'”
“I never really had problems with awkward fighters. The only thing that was giving me trouble was how he kept jumping in and out. And he was a little faster than I expected. As the rounds went on, I got more comfortable in there, and in the fourth round, I did it to him.”
“My son was here. I had to show up for my son, Keyshawn Jr. He was in the crowd watching me. It means a lot to me now. When he looks back at this day, he’s going to be proud of his father.”
“I want anybody who has the balls to step in the ring and fight me. There are two 135-pound champions that I would love to fight. If they have the guts to step in the ring with ‘The Businessman,’ tell them to send me a contract, or I can send them one.”
In Berinchyk vs Davis undercard action
In the co-feature, Xander Zayas (21-0, 13 KOs) of Puerto Rico defeated Slawa Spomer (20-1, 11 KOs) of Germany, by way of Kyrgyzstan, via ninth-round TKO. With the victory, Zayas retained his NABF and NABO super welterweight titles.
In the main card opener, Vito Mielnicki Jr. (20-1-1, 12 KOs) of Belleville, NJ and Connor Coyle (21-0-1, 9 KOs) of Northern Ireland fought to a majority draw. The 10-round middleweight bout ended with the scores 95-95, 96-94, and 95-95.
Among the other Berinchyk vs Davis results, Puerto Rican Olympian Juanmita Lopez De Jesus (1-0, 1 KO) stopped Bryan Santiago (1-2-1) of Weslaco, TX in 59 seconds of his pro boxing debut at super flyweight. Abdullah Mason (17-0, 15 KOs) of Bedford, Ohio knocked out Manuel Jaimes (16-3-1, 11 KOs) of San Jose, CA in the fourth round at lightweight.
Dominican Rohan Polanco (15-0, 10 KOs) stopped Jean Carlos Torres (22-2, 17 KOs) of Puerto Rico in the second round at welterweight. Another welterweight matchup ended in favor of Keon Davis (2-0, 1 KO) of Norfolk, VA who stopped Las Vegas native Ira Johnson (3-3, 2 KOs) in Round 2.
Toledo’s Jared Anderson (18-1, 15 KOs) returned to winning ways, defeating Sweden-based Marios Kollias (13-4-1, 10 KOs) from Greece by unanimous decision. After 10 rounds at heavyweight, the judges scored the fight 99-91, 98-92, and 99-91.
In the event opener, Chicago-based Juan Carlos Guerra Jr. (6-1-1, 2 KOs) pulled off an upset, taking a split decision against Chicago native Nico Ali Walsh (10-2, 5 KOs). After six rounds at middleweight, the scores were 58-56, 56-58, and 58-56.