Keyshawn KO's Berinchyk with body shot to win WBO lightweight title
Scores two knockdowns in fourth-round destruction
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Keyshawn Davis spent fight week boldly predicting he would score a first-round knockout of Denys Berinchyk to win the WBO lightweight title.
While Davis whiffed on that call, everything else went right for him as he scored a resounding fourth-round body-shot knockout to win the 135-pound belt in the main event of the Top Rank Boxing on ESPN card on Friday night at The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York.
The victory, before a sold-out crowd of 4,979, was the culmination of childhood dreams that led Davis, who was once so troubled by mental health issues as a teenager that he was committed to a mental health facility. But he overcame it to become a 2020 Olympic silver medalist, the 2022 prospect of the year and now a world titleholder.
Davis joined elite company as one of four fighters in boxing history to win a lightweight world title in 14 fights or less. Vasiliy Lomachenko knocked out Jorge Linares to win the WBA belt in his 12th fight in 2018; Jimmy Britt won a 20-round decision over Hall of Famer Battling Nelson to win the world title in 1904 in his 12th fight; and Hall of Famer Oscar De La Hoya knocked out Jorge Paez in the second round in 1994 to win the vacant WBO title in his 14th fight.
