Tomorrow, headlining in Lesniki, Ukraine. WBO lightweight international title at stake, Berinchyk's fourth defense. Simion, a Romanian veteran who cut his teeth on the featherweight Euro scene with moderate success, was supposed to have fought Marc Oliver McCullough a year ago, but has now been on the shelf for eighteen months. The unbeaten defending champion and local fighter (and IMO longstanding diamond in the rough among Ukrainian prospects), meanwhile, picked up a UD12 over Hector Edgardo "Pajarito" Sarmiento in late February, just before the worldwide Covid-19 pandemic outbreak.
Frankly on paper i cannot see why this match up is happening for this title, Simion lost 2 fights prior to his last bout, and that was only a points win against a fighter with a record of 19 wins and 25 losses. Anyway i gotta back a guy who as a child had to learn to spell this name, Denys Yuriyevych Berinchyk
Had it not been for the blitz defeat to Shakur, a stoppage of Simion here might still be a decent result even with him being older and outsized. I'm not sure how Berinchyk can salvage the situation other than also destroying him early - and even that doesn't really do too much for him.
