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Mexico’s Miguel Berchelt Out to Prove He’s the Best Junior Lightweight Fighter In Boxing Today!

By Rich “Lite It Up” Lopez

When asked who the best junior lightweight fighter is, the obvious answer that comes to mind is WBO junior lightweight champion Vasyl Lomachenko. That is respectful since Lomachenko is ranked as one of the best pound-for pound fighters today. If you ask who the number 2 fighter is in the Jr. Lightweight division that would be Miguel Berchelt. Miguel “El Alacran (Scorpion)” Berchelt from Cancun, Quintana Roo, Mexico has a record of 32-1, 28 KO’s and he is looking to prove he is one of the best fighters in the weight division.

He is considered a boxer puncher that throws good combinations. Berchelt only has one blemish on his record, which was a technical knockout to Luis Eduardo Florez in the 1st round back in 2014. Berchelt was caught cold with a left hook and went down but got up, prompting the referee to stop the fight. I thought the fight was stopped too quickly. Ever since then he has had 11 straight victories with only one fight going to distance.

Berchelt was introduced to American audiences last year on HBO and made a huge statement. He won the WBC World Super Featherweight title against the exciting Francisco Vargas from Mexico. The fight took place in early of 2017. Berchelt beat and cut up Vargas, which prompted the referee to stop the fight in the 11th round in an entertaining bout. To follow up this act, he then made his first defense of the title when he faced off with Japan’s Takashi Mirura in the summer of 2017. Berchelt dominated the rugged Japanese to earn a unanimous decision going all 12 rounds. Mirura known for his tough chin made the distance.

In my opinion, Berchelt made a bigger statement in the Jr. Lightweight division than Lomachenko did last year. No offense to the Ukrainian who I think is a great fighter. I just believe Berchelt’s victories were just a little better than Lomachenko’s victories over Jason Sosa and Miguel Marriaga (who is a Featherweight).

This weekend at the Plaza de Toros in Cancun, Mexico, Berchelt will be coming home and fighting in his hometown. He will be making his second defense of the WBC strap against Maxwell Awuku 44-3-1, 30 KO’s from Accra, Ghana. The fight will be televised on BEIN Boxing En Espanol. This will be considered a stay busy fight for Berchelt as he looks forward for bigger fights down the road. A fight between Berchelt vs Lomachenko would be great, but we are hearing that Lomachenko will most likely be moving up in weight. How about a Mexican showdown between Miguel Berchelt vs Miguel “Mickey” Roman? That would be a classic. Also on a side note, Roman is fighting this weekend as well, in northern Mexico against Aristides Perez of Colombia.

Berchelt does have other options such as possible unification bouts with Alberto Machado (WBA champ) or Kenichi Ogawa (IBF champ). Top American fighters Tevin Farmer and Gervonta Davis are in this weight division too. Either way, I’m looking forward to seeing more of Berchelt as he makes his claim to be the best Jr. Lightweight. It also helps that he brings a crowd pleasing style.

Don’t sleep on Berchelt!

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