Miguel Berchelt takes tactical battle to beat Takashi Miura by unanimous decision
iguel Berchelt watched the prior wars for the World Boxing Council super-featherweight belt, and made note of the tolls they exacted.
The result of that study came Saturday night when Berchelt (32-1) roughed up Japan’s Takashi Miura by unanimous decision at the Forum, as judges awarded him scores of 116-111, 119-108, 120-109.
Miura, the former WBC champion who surrendered his belt to Francisco Vargas in the 2015 fight of the year, showed up as a reduced version of that fighter.
The 33-year-old swung his power punches in a desperate pursuit of a knockout and Berchelt, 25, spent the night avoiding the bombs while retaliating with clean blows to the head and body in his first title defense after stopping Vargas by 11th-round technical knockout in January.
“He’s fighting guys who’ve been battle-tested, battle-worn,” Berchelt promoter Eric Gomez said. “Miura’s dangerous, but, at this level, counting on one big punch to win it, that’s hard. Miguel fought a smart fight."
According to CompuBox, Berchelt outlanded Miura, 245-134, by wisely popping Miura with counter-punches and effective combinations.
“I knew this fight was going to be won with intelligence,” Berchelt said.
The tactical battle was a sharp switch from the prior brawls for the belt dating to Miura-Vargas, which was followed by Vargas’ 2016 fight-of-the-year draw against Mexican countryman Orlando Salido.
Miguel Berchelt hits Takashi Miura with a left hand en route to his victory by unanimous decision in
Miguel Berchelt hits Takashi Miura with a left hand en route to his victory by unanimous decision in their WBA super-featherweight title fight at The Forum on July 15. (Robyn Beck / Getty Images)
While Salido said he’s been promised the next shot at Berchelt by WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman, Gomez said Berchelt wants to return home to Cancun for a fight against someone else.
“I have proven that I am the best by taking on the two toughest champions in the division,” Berchelt said.
In the co-main event, the longshot bid of Mexico’s Robinson Castellanos to become a world champion with 12 losses proved a dramatic but ultimately frustrating pursuit.
Jezreel Corrales defeats Robinson Castellanos in WBA super-flyweight title fight
Castellanos, after earning a World Boxing Assn. super-featherweight title shot at Panama’s Jezreel Corrales by upsetting Cuba’s Yuriorkis Gamboa in May, scored two fourth-round knockdowns of Corrales to inspire his supporters.
The relentless Castellanos (24-13) was out-boxed through the next few rounds, however, and then was knocked down by a Corrales punch in the eighth.
By majority decision, Corrales won by scores of 94-94, 94-93, 96-92, successfully defending his belt for the second time.
The action extended into the 10th, when Corrales (22-1) accidentally head-butted Castellanos under the right eye.
“That head butt should have disqualified him. It could have been fatal,” Castellanos said after a cut burst open under his eye and a ringside physician advised the referee to stop the bout.
A relieved Corrales said, “This is probably the best fight that I’ve had in my career so far.”
