Dsalita Fans will be offered a nice aperitif after Tyson Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk, as Salvador Rodriguez reports that Emanuel Navarrete will meet Denys Berinchyk for the vacant WBO lightweight title on May 18th in San Diego.
The pair first got their marching orders in late January with a 15-day deadline, but presumably came to terms within that span and have spent the last month and a half refining details.
Navarrete (38-1-1, 33 KO) will look to become just the sixth Mexican-born four-division champion, though that really should be “fifth” considering all the pulled strings it took for Leo Santa Cruz to join the club. 13 of his last 14 bouts have been title fights, starting with his breakout super bantamweight beatdown of Isaac Dogboe in 2018, and the lone exception was a mid-pandemic tune-up in Mexico City.
Berinchyk (18-0, 9 KO) boasts a top-tier amateur pedigree, but has thus far spent his 8.5-year pro career treading water. His best win is a 2022 UD over Yvan Mendy, and while that’s a very respectable victory, it stands in stark contrast to 2012 Olympic teammates Oleksandr Usyk, Oleksandr Gvozdyk, and Vasiliy Lomachenko.
Still, the guy can fight and “Vaquero” has had his fair share of close calls. We’ll bring word once the rest of the card comes together.
