WBO / MAY 10, 2025:  Emanuel Navarrete controversially retained his WBO junior lightweight world title Saturday evening with an eighth-round technical decision over Filipino contender Charly Suarez. The fight was halted early due to a cut over Navarrete’s left eye, which referee Edward Collantes ruled was caused by an accidental headbutt. However, instant replay showed Suarez landed a punch just before Suarez's follow through caused a very slight clash of heads. It was difficult to tell whether the punch or the head caused the cut, and the California State Athletic Commission conducted an instant replay review. Boxingtalk is of the opinion that the punch caused the cut, which would have given Suarez the championship by TKO. It was a very difficult decision to make, and Suarez deserves a rematch. The headbutt ruling meant that the winner wouldbe determined on the scorecards. Navarrete prevailed by scores of 77-76 (twice) and 78-75.

 

IBO / MAY 10, 2025: Ex-IBF junior lightweight champion Anthony Cacace has seemingly brought an end to Leigh Wood's career after stopping the former WBA featherweight champion in round nine in Nottingham, England. The end came with Wood runing away from Cacace and the towel flying in from Wood's corner. Cacace (24-1) retained his IBO junior lightweight title, and now has dispatched Joe Cordina, Josh Warrington and Wood in his last three outings. Wood is now 28-4.

 

MARCH 2, 2025 WBA: In front of a sold-out crowd at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, amateur rivals Gervonta “Tank” Davis and Lamont “The Reaper” Roach engaged in an exciting lightweight brawl over twelve competitive rounds that ended was scored a draw. The outcome of the fight was swayed by a missed knockdown call when Davis took a knee. It was a slow-paced fight early on, but built to a crescendo by the end, as Roach withstood Davis' power and fearlessly battled back in the exchanges, sometimes getting the better of them. As usual, the southpaw Davis’ punch output was measured at first then increased round by round, whether planting straight lefts to the body or letting Roach lead so he could launch a powerful counter attack. Roach, who remains the reigning WBA junior lightweight champion, earned the respect of fans and pundits alike.

 

IBF / FEB 1, 2025: Anthony Cacace has vacated the IBF 130-pound title to avoid facing his mandatory contender, Mexico's Eduardo Nunez. Here is how Cacace defended the move: "Becoming a world champion was an absolute dream and incredibly proud moment for me. However, at this stage of my career, I only want the biggest fights possible, regardless of the belt on the line. I’m a prize fighter, and my aim is now to secure mine and families future, and to create a legacy for myself in boxing by being involved in massive fights that fans will remember. I look forward to announcing my next fight very soon."

 

WBC / OCT. 29, 2023: O'Shaquie Foster was in position to lose by split decision before gaining a thrilling twelfth-round technical knockout victory over Eduardo Hernandez on Saturday. Fighting a Mexican in Cancun, Mexico, Foster and Hernandez went to war in round eleven. Foster was then three minutes away from losing his title to some very bad judging, as he entered the final round trailing on two of the official scorecards by 110-99 and 107-102. Foster led on the third scorecard by 106-103 but that would not have been enought to save his title. So he came out aggressively and kept his WBC super featherweight championship by knocking Hernandez down and then stopping him. It was dramatic stuff from the Houston resident, who is now 21-2 on ths his career. Boxingtalk salutes Hernandez, who is now 34-2, as well as Foster.

 

WBO / AUG. 12, 2023: Emanuel Navarrete defeated former two-division champion Oscar Valdez in a classic Mexican war held in Glendale, Arizona. Navarrete, a three-division champion, retained the WBO junior lightweight championship by unanimous decision. The official scores were 116-112, 118-110 and 119-109. Navarrete threw 1038 punches according to Compubox, outlanding Valdez 216-140. Valdez finished with swelling plus a deep bruise under his right eye. Valdez has now failed in his last two title fights, vs. Shakur Stevenson and now Navarrete.

 

IBF/ APRIL 24, 2023: Joe Cordina became a two-time IBF 130-pound champion, winning a unanimous decision over Shavkatdzhon Rakhimov in a thriller of a bout held in Cordina's native Wales.  The two men both entered the fight undefeated, as Cordina briefly held the title last year but had to give it up due to injury. The vacant belt was then won by Rakhimov last November, setting up Saturday's match 

 

WBC / FEB. 12, 2023: With the words “ice water” and “shock the world” etched on his trunks, O’Shaquie Foster produced the fight of his life, coolly and methodically outboxing two-division champion Rey Vargas to capture the vacant WBC junior lightweight championship in his first title shot at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. Foster, who normally switches to southpaw in his fights, fought orthodox for the entire twelve rounds with the objective of befuddling Vargas. He won by scores of 116-112, 117-111 and 119-109 in a dominant, albeit very competitive win. “I can’t put it into words (what this means),” Foster said in the ring afterward. “I know my mom, my uncle, my grandpa, they are all looking down on me.” Vargas was returning to the Alamodome after winning the WBC featherweight championship in his last bout with a decision victory over Mark Magsayo at the same venue last July. He still holds that title, so a return to 126 pounds may be in the cards for Vargas.

 

WBO / FEB. 4, 2023: In Glendale, Arizona, Mexico's Emanuel Navarrete (37-1) survived a knockdown and stopped Australia's Liam Wilson (11-2) in a thriller to earn the vacant WBO 130-pound championship. By claiming the title recently vacated by Shakur Stevenson, Navarrete become a three-division champion. Though Wilson lost, he established himself as a skillful and exciting boxer, and earned a return invitiation to the world stage. In round four, Navarrete was knocked down for the first time in his career. As Navarrete lunged forward with a punch, Wilson caught him with a combination that floored and hurt Navarrete. Luckily for him, Navarrete got critical extra seconds of recovery time as his mouth piece needed to be replaced, and Navarrete struggled to put in correctly. Round seven saw Navarrete swing the momentum his way, as blood began to flow freely from Wilson's nose. In round eight, Wilson appeared to be fighting the wrong kind of fight, looking for one big shot while Navarrete landed multiple blows upstairs and downstairs. Navarrete's body work paid off in round nine, as he knocked down Wilson in the first minute with a one-two combination. Wilson got up, but was clearly drained. He absorbed a lot of hard punches, stumbled badly in the middle of the ring, and seemed unable to tie up Navarrete up. When Navarrete trapped Wilson against the rope and began raining in punches, the referee had no choice but to stop the bout.

 

WBA / JAN. 8, 2023: In Washington D.C., Gervonta Davis defeated WBA 130-pound champion Hector Luis Garcia in a 135-pound bout in which Garcia's title was not at stake. Davis' feared punching power did not produce the knockout the fans were looking for, but it nonetheless proved to be Garcia's undoing. After seven competitive rounds, Davis began consistently landing power punches in round eight. Garcia was staggered but survived until the end of the round. Garcia was guided back to his corner in clear distress and told trainer Bob Santos he could not see. Garcia did not come out for round ten, and Davis was the winner by technical knockout. Davis remains the WBA regular title holder in the lightweight division, while the battered Garcia also retains the WBA junior lightweight title, which was not on the line because this was a lightweight bout. Davis led the cards at the time of the stoppage, 78-74 (twice) and 79-73. Punchstats gave Davis the lead in punches landed, 99-55. 

 

IBF / NOV 6, 2022: In Abu Dhabi, Shavkatdzhon Rakhimov won the vacant IBF 130-pound title after the IBF stripped Joe Cordina for having hand surgery. Rakhimov defeated Zelfa Barrett by ninth-round technical knockout. The new champ is from Tajikistan and boasts a pro record of 16-0-1 with the draw coming in a prior IBF title shot vs. Joseph "JoJo" Diaz last year.  Barrett was doing well in the fight as a whole, even knocking Rakhimov down with a huge uppercut early in the contest. But according to DAZN, something happened in the ninth round and Barrett's leg appeared to be injured. It looked like Barrett couldn't put full weight on his right leg, and Rakhimov took advantage with a flurry of hard shots to knock Barrett down twice. At the point the fight was stopped, the referee did not administer a count, although Barrett's corner was ready to throw in the towel. The British Barrett is now 28-2.

 

IBF / OCT. 5, 2022: Joe Cordina had this to say about getting stripped by the IBF of his 130-pound championship because he had hand surgery (he posted a picture on social media to prove it): "Absolutely gutted. Worked my whole life to become a world champion and I haven’t even had the chance to defend the title  Feel like I’ve been robbed !!" Zelfa Barrett will face Shavkatdzhon Rakhimov for the vacant IBF 130-pound championship on a Matchroom show at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates on Saturday November 5th. Rakhimov (16-0-1, 13 KOs) gets a second opportunity to fight for the 130-pound crown following his draw with an overweight Joseph Diaz last year.

 

WBC & WBO / SEPT. 23, 2022: At Thursday's weigh-in in Newark, New Jersey, hometown hero Shakur Stevenson could not get below 131.6 pounds, and therefore lost the WBO and WBC 130-pound championships on the scale. His ESPN main event vs. Robson Conceição is still on, with the Brazilian challenger still eligible to win the titles. If Stevenson wins the twelve-round bout, the two titles become vacant. Conceição made weight with a bit to spare at 129.6. [Stevenson won the fight, so the titles remained vacant until February 2023 when O'Shaquie Foster defeated Rey Vargas for the WBC and Emanuel Navarrete stopped Liam WIlson for the WBO].

 

WBA / AUG. 21, 2022: Hector Luis Garcia of the Dominican Republic dethroned Roger Gutierrez for the WBA 130-pound championship. From San Juan de la Maguana, Garcia (16-0) proved that his dominant win against Chris Colbert in February wasn’t a fluke. Garcia, a former Olympian, dictated the action and survived a late rally to wrest the WBA title from Gutierrez via unanimous decision. Scores were 117-111 (twice) and 118-110.

 

IBF / JUNE 4, 2022: Wales has a new world champion as Joe Cordina had a dream-come-true moment in Cardiff. Fightng in front of a passionate hometown crowd, Cordina claimed the IBF 130-pound championship from Japan's Kenichi Ogawa with a turn-out-the-lights right hand. The one-punch, knockout-of-the-year candidate came in round two and saw Ogawa struggling to stand up, only to fall back down as the referee reched the ten count.  Cordina was outboxed in the first round, but he made it all irrelevant with one punch a round later. He's been credited as the 13th world champion from Wales. Cordina is listed as 15-0, but Boxingtalk recognizes the World Series of Boxing as professional, so we report him as 17-1. Ogawa, a former drug cheat in 2017, is now 26-2-1. 

 

WBC & WBO / MAY 21, 2022: WBO junior lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson unified two titles when he outboxed WBC champion Oscar Valdez via unanimous decision on Saturday in front of 10,102 fans in Las Vegas. After twelve rounds, the judges declared Newark, New Jersey's Stevenson the winner by scores of 118-109 (twice) and 117-110.  Stevenson (20-0 including the World Series of Boxing) established the southpaw jab in the early going, and Valdez (30-1, 23 KOs) could not get his offense going outside of pockets of success in the third round. In the sixth, Stevenson spun Valdez into the ropes and knocked him down with a right hand. It was all Stevenson in the second half of the fight, who built an insurmountable lead on the cards. Valdez won the final round on all three judges' cards, but it was too little, too late. 

 

IBF / NOV. 21, 2021... In the Madison Square Garden co-feature, Japan's Kenichi Ogawa became the new IBF super featherweight champion, dropping South Africa's Azinga Fuzile three times on the way to a  unanimous decision. Official scores were 115-110 (twice) and 114-111 for Ogawa to claim the vacant title. A former drug cheat, Ogawa is now 26-1-1 but also has a no contest after testing positive in a fight vs. Tevin Farmer in 2017. Fuzile is now 15-2. The title became vacant ealier this year when JoJo Diaz failed to make the 130-pound limit for a fight.

 

WBO / OCT. 24, 2021: In Atlanta, Shakur Stevenson stopped Jamel Herring (23-3, 11 KOs) on cuts in round ten to become the new WBO junior lightweight champion. There were no knockdowns, but Herring was well behind on the cards and a cut over his left eye was rapidly worsening from Stevenson's punches. Although he was not badly hurt, Herring did not complain much about referee Mark Nelson's stoppage. The undefeated Stevenson is now a two-division title holder (as well as an Olympic silver medalist), having previously won a featherweight title before moving up in weight. As soon as the fight ended, talk began about Stevenson's next foe. The top name on his list is the WBC champion at 130 pounds, Mexico's Oscar Valdez.  

 

WBC / SEPT. 11, 2021: In Tucson, Arizona, WBC 130-pound champion Oscar Valdez started slow but got some home cooking to help him remain a champion. Robson Conceicao was fighting the fight of his life, likely winning the first five rounds although not getting credit from the judges for it. The champion then turned it around. Valdez retained his title Friday evening with a unanimous decision over 2016 Brazilian Olympian gold medalist Conceicao. Official scores were 115-112 (twice) and a corrupt or incompetent 117-110. [Punchstat numbers favored Conceicao widely, 141 punches landed to 83. Valdez's face was completely marked up from the punches he absorbed. The referee did his part to assist Valdez by making a ridiculous and unjustified point deduction againt the challenger for a minor tap to the back of the head. Not even a warning for Conceicao but Valdez did the same thing and suffered no penalty. Valdez probably should not have even been allowed to fight, as he tested positive for a VADA-banned substance last week.

 

WBO / APRIL 23, 2021: Jamel Herring stops and retires the respected Carl Frampton a former two-division champion. With the win, Herring retained his WBO championship.

 

WBC / FEB. 20, 2021: In Las Vegas, Oscar Valdez and Miguel Berchelt promised an all-Mexican clash for the ages. They delivered. Valdez knocked out Berchelt with a left hook at the end of the tenth round to win the WBC super featherweight title from Berchelt, who was making his seventh title defense.  The hook crumpled Berchelt, who fell face-first to the canvas, and referee Russell Mora immediately waved off the fight. Valdez, a former WBO featherweight champion, is now a two-division champion and a major star in boxing. Berchelt (38-2, 34 KOs) had been badly hurt and knocked down in the fourth, but steadied himself and continued to pressure Valdez (29-0, 23 KOs) throughout the middle rounds. Valdez turned the tide once again in the ninth with a knockdown,  and with the tenth round in hand, he lowered the boom.

 

WBC / JAN 29, 2017: The WBC 130-pound title now belongs to Miguel Berchelt, who punished Francisco Vargas in Indio, California. The HBO Boxing After Dark fight went on a couple of rounds too long as Berchelt turned Vargas’ face into a bloody wreck. The ringside physician declined two opportunities to stop the fight, and when it was over, the cut above Vargas’ left eye was longer than the eye itself.   Berchelt is now 30-1, with lone loss coming in 2014 to non-contender Luis Eduardo Florez. Bechelt’s first defense could be against former WBC champion Takashi Miura, who won an eliminator on the undercard.  Another possibility is Orlando Salido, a former featherweight champion who recently drew with Vargas. Meanwhile, Vargas is now 23-1-1, and showed some effects from back-to-back wars vs. Miura and Salido.

IBF / JAN. 14, 2017: Baltimore's Gervonta "Tank" Davis (17-0 with 16 KOs) punished and stopped Jose Pedraza (22-1 with 12 KOs) to claim the IBF 130-pound championship.  Just 22 years old, Davis is built like Mike Tyson. He certainly fought in a Tysonesque manner, bulling forward to take the Puerto Rican Pedraza's title in round seven. Davis started aggressively and landed some hard shots in the opening round. Davis continued to show he meant business, hitting Pedraza when Pedraza was down on a slip in round two and engaging in rabbit punches in round three. In the fourth round, Pedraza made some adjustments, landing enough to make Davis shake his head no, trying to indicate he wasn't hurt. In the fifth, Pedraza controlled the action for most of the round until both men put on a display of machismo, thrilling the crowd by trading punches with their hands down. Davis hurt Pedraza badly with a left hook to the ribs, forcing Pedraza to fight the remainder of the round with his right hand down to cover the rib.  Davis punished the one-handed Pedraza accordingly, and it looked as though the fight might be stopped by the ringside doctor between rounds. The seventh round eventually got started, and the weakened Pedraza could no nothing but absorb punishment against the ropes.  A hard combination punctuated by a right decked Pedraza. The Puerto Rican beat the count but the referee wisely ended the bout immediately.

WBO / JUNE 11, 2016: Ukrainian Vasiliy Lomachenko defeated Roman "Rocky" Martinez in a fifth-round knockout at Madison Square Garden to become the WBO junior lightweight champion. Lomachenko, a two-time Olympic champion, is now a two-division professional champion. Lomachenko made a successful debut at 130 pounds with a spectacular, fifth-round knockout of Martinez.

WBC / JUNE 6, 2016: Francisco Vargas and Orlando Salido fight to a draw, allowing Vargas to retain his WBC title.

WBC / NOV. 21, 2015: In Las Vegas, Francisco Vargas and Takashi Miura gave boxing fans an instant classic. The Mexican Vargas (23-0-1) took the WBC 130-pound championship from Japan's Takashi Miura (29-3-2). In round one, Vargas nearly knocked Takashi down with a looping right hand. Despite doing his best to make it an early night, Vargas was unable to finish Miura off. Soon, Miura began to time his left hand and he dropped Vargas with a straight right hand at the end of round four. After being cut under his right eye by an accidental clash of heads in the earlier rounds, Miura opened a cut on top of Vargas' eye turning his face into a bloody mask. Rounds 5-8 were all Miura, as the soon-to-be-ex champ landed the cleaner, harder shots for the majority of those frames. But Vargas was not to be denied. He came out blazing in the ninth and dropped Miura with a series of heavy shots. After flopping around on the canvas, Miura made it to his feet and his found his balance. After not punching back for nearly 30 seconds,  referee Tony Weeks appeared to stop the bout just when it seemed Miura was getting his feet back under him.

IBF / JUNE 14, 2015: In the opening bout of the Showtime doubleheader from Birmingham, Alabama, Jose Pedraza (20-0, 12 KOs) dominated Andrey Klimov (20-1, 9 KOs) from the opening bell to claim the vacant IBF junior lightweight title with a unanimous decision victory. The Puerto Rican Pedraza, making his 2015 debut, triumphed by the scores of 120-108 (twice) and 119-109. The IBF title was last held by Cuba's Rances Barthelemy.

WBO/ APRIL 11, 2015: Score one for Puerto Rico in its boxing rivalry vs. Mexico. In San Juan, Roman "Rocky" Martinez won the WBO 130-pound championship by unanimous decision over Mexico's Orlando Salido. Martinez knocked Salido down in the third and fifth rounds, and Salido was also penalized for low blows in the eleventh. Martinez carried the scorecards by tallies of 115-110, 114-111 and 116-109. Salido previously had great success over Puerto Rican rivals, including Juan Manuel Lopez, but having turned pro at age 15, the now 34 year-old Salido has absorbed a lot of punishment over his career. He was taken to the hospital after the fight. Salido is now 42-13-2 with 1 no contest in a long and honorable career. Martinez (29-2-2) now begins his third reign as the WBO 130-pound champion. Both times, his title was taken from him under dubious circumstances (vs. Ricky Burns in 2010 and Mikey Garcia in 2013).