The third and final instalment of this week, as far as Top Rank boxing on ESPN is concerned, is another offering from Mexico It’s another big punching home fighter that is the star attraction. The action comes from Gimnasio TV Azteca in Mexico City.
Yucatan’s Miguel Berchelt (37-1, KO33) is the man at the head of affairs. The WBC Super-Featherweight champion takes a trip up to Lightweight over ten rounds for his first bout in seven months.
Berchelt is your typical Mexican fighter, with plenty of fights and rounds under his belt at the age of just 28, having turned professional on his 19th birthday back in November 2010.
His only career defeat remains a 2014 stunner against Luis Eduardo Flores, with the Columbian dropping Berchelt heavily in the opener, and the fight was waved off as the Mexican attempted to rise. It was a classic case of being caught cold.
Miguel Berchelt is since 16-0 since that shock loss. He claimed the interim WBO Super-Featherweight belt in March 2016 by stopping Londoner George Jupp in six rounds.
Only two fights later he became a bona fide World champion by capturing the WBC title in a thriller, stopping Francisco Vargas in eleven.
The Mexican has since defended the famous green belt six times, with only Takashi Miura going the distance with him.
A rematch with Vargas took place in May last year. This time Berchelt left no doubt, after their first close affair, as he dominated to force a corner retirement in six.
Berchelt was last out in November 2019, forcing Jason Sosa’s corner to cause a halt as the bell to end the fourth was about to be tolled. “El Alacran” had scored knockdowns in rounds two and four in any case.
Berchelt’s opposition for his Lightweight foray this weekend is very much in the cannon fodder mould.
Sinaloa, Mexico’s Eleazar Valenzuela (21-13-4, KO16) is very much a trial horse, and the best we can hope for is that he will give Berchelt rounds and something to think about.
Valenzuela has been the distance with decent fighters over the years. Having taken Olympic champion Zou Shiming the four-round distance in April 2013 and Emmanuel Navarrete all eight rounds in August 2016.
As recently as August last year, he took Irishman Jono Carroll ten rounds in Mexico, although he lost eight of those ten sessions.
Valenzuela was last out in December 2019, stopped in two rounds Miguel Angel Parra. He has been stopped three times in his 13 career defeats.
Prediction: Berchelt will look to shed some ring rust here, and may take a few rounds to get going against Valenzuela. His most recent defeat may have knocked the ambition out of him, and I expect Berchelt to up the ante around the fourth, and should have his man out of there before halfway.
There are three ten-round contests in all on the card. In a Super-Lightweight contest, unbeaten, home hope Omar Alejandro Aguilar (17-0, KO16) will hope to gain much needed exposure.
His assignment is the experienced former World title challenger, Dante Jardon (32-6, KO23). Jardon unsuccessfully challenged Takashi Miura for the WBC Super-Featherweight title in December 2013
At Super-Bantamweight, Alan David Picasso (13-1, KO5) meets Florentino Perez Hernandez (14-5-2, KO9) in the final scheduled ten rounder of the evening.
There’s an eight-round Featherweight attraction as Rafael Espinoza (14-0, KO12) and Luis Guzman Rios (8-14, KO1) square off.
The sole six rounder on the bill comes at Super-Lightweight, with 19 year old Ruben Eduardo Aguilar (9-0, KO7) tackling Emmanuel Herrera (7-10, KO1).
