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WBC junior lightweight titleholder Miguel Berchelt (37-1, 33 KOs) will be back in action this weekend in Mexico City, taking on Eleazar Valenzuela (21-13-4, 16 KOs) in a scheduled 10-round non-title fight. We’d obviously love to see Berchelt in a more notable fight, but he tells RingTV that it’s important for him to just stay active until the bigger fights can materialize.
“Fighting in a TV studio without fans is something weird for everybody. I know this is not the kind of fight I am used to; it’s not a championship fight and the opponent is not like the last ones, but I am looking forward to going in the ring. I haven’t fought since last November and I need to be active.”
Berchelt would continue by emphasizing that he won’t be taking Valenzuela lightly, knowing that Valenzuela has aspirations too and will be coming to win rather than roll over. The 28-year-old titleholder is aware that a much bigger fight against Oscar Valdez has been in the mentions, and says he hopes that fight can come together this year. And to that end Mario Abraham, Berchelt’s co-promoter, says that intriguing fight will happen when the time is right.
“We have to be patient with COVID-19. We all think the fight against Valdez is a great fight and it should be with fans in the arena. Fighters have to be active, that’s why we took this fight in the meantime.”
One can’t really blame Berchelt for trying to stay sharp since the ability to stage high profile fights is a bit dubious with the ongoing pandemic — specifically with regards to financing these fights — but let’s hope the big fights start coming back together sooner than later.