Vyacheslav Senchenko retained his WBA welterweight belt Monday night with a unanimous decision over Charlie Jose Navarro.
The unbeaten Senchenko rocked Navarro on a number of occasions with straight rights to keep the energetic Venezuelan challenger at bay and improve to 31-0 with 20 knockouts. Navarro lost for the fourth time in 22 fights.
Senchenko tried to keep Navarro at distance with his strong left jab, often following up with straight rights. He connected well at the end of the fourth and fifth rounds to rock Navarro, after the Venezuelan had opened up a small cut on his opponent's nose.
Senchenko stunned him again in the seventh with a powerful counter right, but the challenger kept firing rapid combinations.
The quicker Navarro was frequently able to close in and landed blows in a number of flurries, but was unable to do sufficient damage to the Ukrainian.
Senchenko scored again in the 11th with a straight right that knocked his opponent backwards, and the champion hung on despite a final charge by Navarro.
The judges scored the fight 116-113, 115-113 and 115-113.
