Miguel Berchelt vs. Maxwell Awuku – Results

By Boxing News - 02/11/2018 - Comments

Image: Miguel Berchelt vs. Maxwell Awuku – Results

By Jim Dower: WBC super featherweight champion Miguel “Alacrán” Berchelt (33-1, 29 KOs) took his time tonight before turning on his offense in round 3 to stop 2nd tier fighter Maxwell Awuku (44-4-1, 30 KOs) by a 3rd round TKO in a voluntary defense at the Oasis Arena in Cancun, Quintana Roo, Mexico.

The 26-year-old Berchelt knocked the stork-like Awuku twice in round 3. After Awuku got up, Berchelt backed him to the corner and landed several hard shots to the head that had him looking badly hurt. The referee Hector Afu then stepped in and stopped the fight with Awuku still on his feet but looking badly shaken. The official time of the stoppage was at 2:46 of round 3. For Berchelt, this was his 3rd defense of his World Boxing Council title that he last year in stopping Francisco Vargas in the 11th round.

Berchelt was glaring at Awuku with a smirk on his face while sitting in between rounds after round 1 had ended. The way that Berchelt was smiling at Awuku, it had the look of someone that just knew he was going to end the fight soon. Awuku didn’t look confident at all. He looked stressed out from the pressure that Berchelt had put on him in the opening round.

Berchelt had had 2 other challengers drop out for various reasons. Awuku was the third option, and the least qualified. The lanky looking 5’8 ½”southpaw Awuku still gave it a good effort in landing some good shots in rounds 1 and 2. The shorter 5’7” Berchelt had to come in low to get his close enough to land his combinations. When Berchelt would back away, Awuku was able to hit him with straight lefts. Awuku would often chase Berchelt across the ring while he was trying to back up, and he able to connect times. Berchelt did a good job of avoiding many of Awuku’s wild shots, but it wasn’t easy.

In round 1, Berchelt ate some shots while on the outside. One left hand in particular from Awuku snapped Berchelt’s head, but he lacked the power to hurt him. In the last 30 seconds of the round, Berchelt got in punching range and landed a 3-punch combination to the head. Those shots got Awuku’s attention for sure. As the round was ending, Awuku hit Berchelt with a left hand to the head.

In round 2, Berchelt caught Awuku with a left-right combination in the middle of the round that seemed to cause his legs to wobble a little. Awuku might have slipped, but it looked to me like he was stunned by the punches.

In the 3rd round, Berchelt caught Awuku with a left and then a right hand that definitely hurt him. Moments later, Berchelt knocked Awuku down with a right hand to the head that put him on the seat of his pants. Awuku didn’t look that hurt when he got back to his feet. However, Berchelt attacked him straight away and backed him up against the ropes and hit him with a flurry of heavy shots that knocked him down for the second time in the round. This time there was no question that Awuku was hurt. He looked stunned after getting back to his feet. The referee wiped off Awuku’s gloves and then motioned for him to walk towards him. Berchelt then immediately hit Awuku with a right hand to the head that caused him to back up to the ropes. Berchelt then landed 3 more shots that caused the referee to stop the fight.

”I feel very happy and satisfied,” Berchelt said after the fight via Fight News. ”his is a very special night for me. I fulfilled a dream I had as a child. I didn’t feel a punch and from the first knockdown know I would knock him out,” Berchelt said.

Berchelt wanted to fight WBO super featherweight champion Vasyl Lomachenko in a unification fight, but that doesn’t look like it’s a possibility due to the Ukrainian fighter planning on moving up to the lightweight division to challenge WBA World 135 lb. champion Jorge Linares (44-3, 27 KOs) on May 12 at Madison Square Garden in New York. Berchelt says he wants to fight the top names at super featherweight. Unless Lomachenko chooses to stick around to stick around to fight Berchelt, it doesn’t look like the Mexican fighter will get that fight. If Berchelt wants big fights, he’ll need to go after WBA champion Alberto Machado and IBF champion Kenichi Ogawa.

With the win, Berchelt is expected to defend against #1 WBC Miguel ‘Mickey’ Roman (58-12, 45 KOs) next. Roman is coming off of a 9th round knockout win over Orlando Salido on December 9th last year. If that’s the next fight for Berchelt, it’ll be a good one, as Roman was sharp in stopping Salido last December. Roman is not in Berchelt’s league though. Roman was knocked out in the 12th round by Takashi Miura in January of last year. Berchelt fought Miura in July of 2017 and defeated him by an easy 12 round unanimous decision. Styles make fights of course, but it’s impossible to see what Berchelt did in beating Miura and not believe that he’ll have an easy time beating Miguel Roman when those two fight each other. If that fight comes next, then it should be interesting to watch for as long as it lasts. I don’t think Roman will be able to go the distance with a talented fighter like Berchelt. It’s going to take a very special talent to beat Berchelt like Lomachenko. If Lomachenko chooses to stay at lightweight without coming back down, then Berchelt will probably dominate the super featherweight division for a long time to come. Maybe if Oscar Valdez moves up from featherweight, we could see Berchelt get some competition.

Image: Miguel Berchelt vs. Maxwell Awuku – Results

Image: Miguel Berchelt vs. Maxwell Awuku – Results

Image: Miguel Berchelt vs. Maxwell Awuku – Results