Miguel Berchelt vs. Takashi Miura reportedly headlines July 15th HBO tripleheader

ESPN brings word of a damn good Golden Boy card on the horizon.

In the main event, WBC Super Featherweight Champion Miguel Berchelt will take on mandatory challenger Takashi Miura in his first title defense, while Joe Smith Jr. faces on Sullivan Barrera in the co-feature. A clash between WBA “Super” Super Featherweight Champion Jezreel Corrales and Robinson Castellanos is in the works as well.

Berchelt (31-1, 28 KO) managed to outslug Francisco Vargas in January to earn both the aforementioned title and his tenth consecutive knockout victory. He’s not gone the distance since 2012 and his aggressive stylings should make for fireworks against Miura (31-3-2, 24 KO), who won a war of his own against Miguel Roman on the same card.

Smith Jr. (23-1, 19 KO) was supposedly ordered to fight Oleksandr Gvozdyk, but was apparently already working on a fight with Barrera (19-1, 14 KO). With all due respect for Smith, of whom I am a fan, this is a much more competitive fight. Barrera’s a tough bastard in his own right and ought to meet Smith in the center for some quality slugging.

Corrales (21-1, 8 KO) will be fighting someone other than Takashi Uchiyama for the first time since December of 2015. The Panamanian emerged from obscurity by demolishing “KO Dynamite” in the first fight, then proved it was no fluke with a clear decision the following New Year’s Eve. He faces a very capable veteran in Castellanos (24-12, 14 KO), who beat the fight out of Yuriorkis Gamboa two weeks ago.