Espinoza’s Sustained Attack Forced Khegai’s Corner to End
Rafael Espinoza retained his WBO featherweight championship against Arnold Khegai on November 15, 2025, in San Luis Potosi, Mexico. Khegai’s corner ended the contest after ten completed rounds, with the official result recorded as an eleventh-round technical knockout.
The champion’s reach and combinations created repeated problems
Espinoza worked behind his jab and used uppercuts and body punches against the shorter challenger. Khegai had effective moments of his own, including combinations that forced Espinoza to hold during the early rounds.
Those replies did not develop into sustained control. Espinoza continued producing the more consistent offense and increasingly forced Khegai to absorb damaging exchanges.
Accumulating damage narrowed the challenger’s options
The middle rounds brought further power punches and increasing facial damage for Khegai. Swelling around his left eye became a major problem as the scheduled twelve-round contest progressed.
Trainer Marvin Samodio warned his boxer that the fight needed to become more competitive. Khegai improved enough in the ninth to continue, but the recovery did not change the overall direction of the contest.
The corner intervention completed a fourth successful defense
After the tenth, Khegai’s team stopped the fight rather than send him into another round. Espinoza remained unbeaten with twenty-eight professional victories and twenty-four stoppages.
The result was his fourth defense of the title he had won from Robeisy Ramirez in December 2023. Every defense had ended inside the distance, and this one came through repeated scoring and accumulated damage rather than a single sudden knockout punch.
Sources
- Top Rank: November 15 event and official eleventh-round result
- WBO: title-defense record and accumulating damage
- The Ring: corner warning and round development
