Photos by Tom Hogan/Golden Boy Promotions
This Saturday, July 15, it is going down at the “Fabulous” Forum in Inglewood, California. On HBO Boxing After Dark, Miguel “El Alacran” Berchelt (31-1, 28 KOs) and Takashi Miura (31-3-2, 24 KOs) will go toe-to-toe in the WBC Super Featherweight Championship main event.
Miguel Berchelt who is currently ranked No. 4 will be defending his WBC title against No. 5 ranked Takashi Miura in what is expected to be a very competitive bout. Both men are likely most well known for their wars with Francisco Vargas — Miura fell short against Vargas in what was arguably the Fight of the Year in 2015, while Berchelt defeated Vargas in his last bout in January.
Berchelt scored a knockout victory over Vargas in January at the Fantasy Springs Casino in Indio, California. At the time of the stoppage Berchelt was slightly ahead on the scorecards with scores of (96-94, 96-94, and 95-95) and though the cards were close, Berchelt simply had the better game plan and exerted more effort. Before this fight, many didn’t know who Berchelt was because his previous opposition hadn’t been much to talk about and he also had that one TKO loss on his record back in 2014.
Berchelt made a name for himself against Vargas. Now the question remains, was Berchelt really that much better than Vargas or had Vargas taken too much punishment in previous fights with Takashi Miura and Orlando Salido for him to put forth his best effort?
Saturday night, Berchelt will face yet another experienced veteran in Miura and once again be tested. Miura is coming off two wins since the tough back-and-forth war against Francisco Vargas. Miura is not a fighter who should be taken lightly– he packs a punch and his extremely crafty.
This fight is more or less make or break for Miura. Miura isn’t getting any younger and the Super Featherweight division is just going to continue getting more and more competitive. Berchelt proved his patience against Vargas, not allowing himself to get drawn into a hasty brawl and a hasty brawl maybe Miura’s best chance to win, unfortunately. It will be interesting to see what approach each fighter takes going into Saturday night’s fight. I don’t see this fight being one-sided by any means especially in the earlier rounds but the ring IQ and youth of Berchelt will be hard to contend with. Tune in Saturday night on HBO After Dark to see who comes out on top.
