The championship chance Charly Suarez sought since childhood was cut short Saturday night in San Diego, California.

An uncontrollable gash above Emanuel Navarrete’s left eyebrow caused an abrupt end to their 12-round fight for the WBO junior lightweight title early in the eighth round at Pechanga Arena. The California State Athletic Commission ruled that Navarrete’s cut was caused by an accidental head-butt, not the left hand Suarez landed a split second earlier, which enabled the champion to keep his belt by technical decision.

A ringside physician recommended one second into the eighth round that Navarrete shouldn’t continue because his cut kept bleeding. Judges Pat Russell (78-75), Lou Moret (77-76) and Fernando Villarreal (77-76) had Navarrete ahead at the time of the stoppage.

Each judge was required to score the eighth round 10-10 because it had barely begun when referee Edward Collantes ended ESPN’s main event with essentially five rounds remaining.

Suarez (18-1, 10 KOs), the mandatory challenger for Navarrete’s belt, entered as an unknown underdog to American fight fans. He left it with not only their respect, but that of Navarrete (40-2-1, 32 KOs), a three-division champion who couldn’t put away a mostly untested but courageous contender.

Navarrete, 30, won a second straight 130-pound championship match, but the rugged Mexican might need to move back up to the lightweight limit of 135 pounds for his next bout because he had so much difficulty making weight for Suarez. Ukraine’s Denys Berinchyk beat Navarrete three appearances ago in a 12-round fight for the then-unclaimed WBO lightweight title May 2024 at Pechanga Arena.

Suarez, 36, lost for the first time and was denied in his bid to become another world champion from the Philippines. Suarez told The Ring before he challenged Navarrete that he met with Filipino legend Manny Pacquiao prior to leaving Manila for the United States last month.

Had he won, Suarez also would’ve earned a promotion from solider in the Philippine Army.

Suarez tried his best to make his dream a reality during the seventh round. Navarrete bled badly and went at it with an aggressive Suarez during those frenetic three minutes. Suarez tried to capitalize, but Navarrete made it to his stool.

A round earlier, what was ruled an accidental clash of heads about 10 seconds into the sixth round caused a long cut above Navarrete’s left eyebrow. The CSAC determined that Navarrete’s cut was caused by an accidental clash of heads, though ESPN’s replays provided various angles that seemingly made that ruling debatable.

Regardless, Navarrete, aware that he might not last six-plus additional rounds with that type of cut, went after Suarez in hopes of ending their scheduled 12-round bout less than halfway through it.

A left to the body by Navarrete forced Suarez to move away from him with less than 20 seconds to go in the sixth round. Suarez responded with a right hand to Navarrete’s head, but he walked through it a few seconds before the bell sounded.

Suarez was breathing hard as he sat on his stool following the fourth. A hard body shot from Navarrete slowed him within the first 30 seconds, forcing Suarez to temporarily hold after absorbing the shot.

Suarez still drilled Navarrete with a right hand with 1:15 left. He turned southpaw with under a minute to go and blasted Navarrete with his left hand.

The challenger still threw many hard rights and lefts at Navarrete in the fifth. Suarez just wasn’t as accurate as the champion, who caught him with several right hands in the final minute.

Navarrete and Suarez threw hard punches at each other throughout a fan-friendly third round that was very competitive.

Suarez hit Navarrete on the back of his head, which caused a brief break in the action just before the midway mark of the second. The action intensified once they were brought back together, when Navarrete and Suarez unloaded power punches on each other during the final minute.

Navarrete nailed Suarez with a right hand that knocked him off balance exactly a minute into the first round. Another overhand right by Navarrete buckled his knees with 40 seconds to go.