As the violence swelled in the fourth round to the composition of Miguel Berchelt’s Cleto Reyes gloves, the tattered eyes of Francisco Vargas began to close. The ringside physician had to pull Vargas away from the beating in Rounds 9 and 10 and by the fateful 11th stanza, HBO commentary was begging the referee to stop the fight.
Only 25 and previously unheralded out of Mexico, Berchelt bludgeoned Vargas en route to an upset victory for the WBC Super Featherweight championship.
“I wanted to be on HBO,” Berchelt told the cable network’s Max Kellerman after the fight. “I wanted to fight the best, and I wanted to beat the champions.”
Vargas was a titleholder in poundage (130 pounds) as well as brutality, earing back-to-back Fight of the Year honors for his rumbles with Orlando Salido and Takashi Miura.
Miura, also featured on the weekend’s broadcast, became just the second man to stop Mickey Roman in nearly 70 professional bouts.
The matchup was a title eliminator to the WBC strap Berchelt lifted from Vargas.
Miura once owned that same belt, defending it four times before falling to Vargas in 2015. A contest between him and Berchelt promises another Fight of the Year contender.
Berchelt, strutting the brawny shoulders of fellow next-generation Mexican warriors Juan Francisco Estrada and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, bangs like the seething warriors of yesteryear.
Compiling an impressive 28 KOs in 32 trips to the ring, the young man is a former interim WBO champ. It was a stint that saw one defense and a canceled unification match with Roman Martinez, who pulled out due to injuries.
That fight would have been something ferocious too—the Super Featherweight division always is.
The king at 130 pounds, of course, is Vasyl Lomachenko who was last seen undressing Nicholas Walters. The Ukrainian also fights on HBO. That makes an intriguing bout with Berchelt very possible.
The 28-year-old Lomachenko’s only professional loss was to the aforementioned Salido, who Berchelt in many ways emulates.
Against Vargas, Berchelt can be seen keeping his elbows tight and digging to his man’s body with two-fisted impunity—only pausing to sling overhand punches that could shake a tree of its leaves.
Berchelt may not be ready for Lomachenko yet (who is?) but a scroll through the new champion’s WBC contenders list reveals an interesting name: Tevin Farmer.
Farmer, 26, is a slick antithesis to the brawling Mexican ethos. The Philadelphia-bred boxer also took to Twitter on Saturday looking for a fight:
I want Miguel Berchelt next @loudibella @wbcmoro @maxkellerman make it happen. That's my belt
— TEVIN FARMER (@TevinFarmer22) January 29, 2017
If Berchelt gets by Miura, a showdown with Farmer can help prepare him for any upcoming title tilts with Lomachenko for the helm of the division.
Photo credit/Hogan Photos
