FIGHT WEEK
Miguel Berchelt will fight Jeremiah Nakathila at 135 pounds Saturday in first fight since he lost his 130-pound title to Oscar Valdez.
Miguel Berchelt (38-2, 34 KOs) vs. Jeremiah Nakathila (22-2, 18 KOs)
Date: Saturday, March 26
Time: 10 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT (main event later in show)
Where: Resorts World Las Vegas, Las Vegas
TV/Stream: ESPN
Division: Lightweight (135 pounds)
Rounds: 12
At stake: No major titles
Pound-for-pound ranking: None
Odds: NA
Also on the card: Jose Enrique Vivas vs. Enrique Baez, featherweights
Prediction: Berchelt KO 7
Background: The fighters have a combined 52 knockouts in their 60 victories, which means this matchup of sluggers isn’t likely to go the distance. Berchelt suffered a devastating
loss to Oscar Valdez in February of last year, a one-sided fight in which he went down three times and was stopped in the 10
th round. That cost him his 130-pound title, put an end to the considerable momentum he had built the past several years and raised questions about his limitations. The 30-year-old Mexican had stopped 16 of his previous 17 opponents, including Francisco Vargas (twice), Takashi Miura, Jonathan Victor Barros, Miguel Roman and Jason Sosa. Nakathila had his own momentum-crushing setback in June of last year, when he was outclassed and
shut out over 12 rounds by the gifted Shakur Stevenson in his U.S. debut. The 32-year-old Namibian bounced back to stop Ndodana Ncube of Zimbabwe in two rounds four months later in his home country. Nakathila probably matches up better against a slugger like Berchelt than he did against the slick, athletic Stevenson.
