Former WBC junior lightweight titleholder Miguel Berchelt is undergoing a step-by-step comeback after back-to-back defeats in 2021 and 2022.
The 32-year-old will now face Jeremy Triana at lightweight at the Recinto Ferial de Tlaxcala, Mexico and will be broadcast on TV Azteca on Saturday.
“It will be an excellent fight whenever the “El Alacran” Berchelt fights it is a guarantee of spectacle,” Berchelt (39-3, 35 knockouts) told The Ring through his handler Mario Abraham of Max Boxing.
The power-punching Mexican was on top of the world but yielded his WBC crown to Oscar Valdez (KO 10) and then in his lightweight debut came unstuck against Jeremiah Nakathila (RTD 6).
He then took off 19-months before he returned at a lower level against Diego Ruiz (RTD 2) last October.
Berchelt is looking forward and not letting the two harrowing defeats cloud what has been a productive career.
“It is always good to take some time and even more so if it is for yourself, but the warrior always needs battles to win,” he said. “The past is the past, the present is the most important thing because the future depends on it and I am focused on this fight.”
While it is a slow process at this point, Berchelt still has aspirations of once again dinning on the top table of boxing.
“I hope to return to become a champion,” he said. “It is difficult, yes, it will be hard to but anything can happen.”
Abraham is protecting his fighter, who he has worked with for his entire career and wants to make sure he is capable of facing the best before he lets him in at the deep end.
“He is trying very hard to return to the big fights, I hope this fight will tell you how he is,” said Abraham. “We have had some proposals in USA but I refused them. I want to be sure he is ready to be there again. We don’t want to be someone’s stepping stone.”
Berchelt still maintains his fearsome power and I expect that to be too much for Triana and allow him to score a stoppage in around three or four-rounds.
Triana (15-5-3, 13 KOs) turned professional in his native Colombia in 2016. He won six of his first seven fights (the lone blemish was a draw) but lost his unbeaten record to Placido Ramirez (KO 8). The 31-year-old has held Juan Huertas (familiar to American audiences for loses to Gary Antuanne Russell, Miguel Madueno and Shohjahon Ergashev) to a draw.
Since then his form has become patchy and has lost several times, though he is now on a four-fight unbeaten streak.
Questions and/or comments can be sent to Anson at [email protected].
