By Dan Ambrose: WBC super featherweight champion Miguel Berchelt (32-1, 28 KOs) will be defending his title against #39 WBC Carlo Magali (23-9-3, 12 KOs) on February 10 at the Plaza de Toros in Cancun, Mexico.
Berchelt was supposed to be facing #4 WBC Cristian Mijares, but that fight failed happen. Berchelt, 26, is now taking on prominent level journeyman fighter Magali as a replacement.
This is a major disappointment for Berchelt to be facing this caliber of opponent. His last scheduled opponent, old timer Mijares, was also a poor option because he’d done nothing with his career in recent years.
Mijares even said that he would be retiring after the Berchelt fight. But for Berchelt now to be fighting the 31-year-old Magali, it suddenly makes a fight against Mijares look good in comparison. Hopefully this kind of match-making isn’t going to be the hallmark of Berchelt’s time as the WBC champion, because he certainly can do a lot better than Magali.
Berchelt has had a tough time making his latest title defense of his World Boxing Council 130 lb. title. Berchelt was originally supposed to face 37-year-old Orlando Salido, but that fight fell apart after Berchelt suffered an injury. Salido then fought Miguel ‘Mickey’ Roman last December and was shockingly stopped in the 9th round.
Berchelt then planned on fighting the 34-year-old former super flyweight champion Mijares in his last fight of his career, but then that fight fell apart. Now Berchelt is going to be facing 31-year-old Filipino fighter Magali on February 10. This is one of the poorer options you’ll ever see a champion take in terms of voluntary title defenses due to Magali not being ranked in the top 15 or in the top 25.
Berchelt’s management went all the way to the 39 spot in the WBC’s rankings to find Magali. Presumably, the WBC is on board with this fight otherwise you can expect them to reject the fight and let Berchelt’s management know they need to pick a better opponent for him to fight.
Magali has had past defeats to the following fighters:
• Pavel Malikov
• Emmanuel Tagoe
• Andrey Bogdanov
• Randy Braga
• Vincent Palicte
• Mark Gil Melligen
• Jundy Maraon
• Japeth Orong
• Joseph Omana
The good news is Magali hasn’t lost a fight since 2016 when he was beaten by Malikov. The bad news is he hasn’t fought anyone good since then.
Berchelt has been out of action since his 12 round unanimous decision win over Takashi Miura last July in Inglewood, California. That was Berchelt’s first defense of his WBC title that he won last year in beating Francisco Vargas by an 11th round knockout in January.
At this point I’m just hoping that Berchelt will get his title defense over because it’s been a rollercoaster for him to find someone to fight.