By Matt Lieberman: Fernando Beltran of Zanfer promotions is planning on bringing back Emanuel Navarrete, Miguel Berchelt, and Luis Nery for behind closed doors matches in June in Mexico. Their opponents will be announced at a later time. For now, they’re all expected to fight in June.
Also to fight in June is WBO light flyweight champion Elwin Soto, Alan Picasso, Omar Aguilar, Pedro Campa, and Jackie Nava. There’s an opportunity for boxing fans in Mexico to see some great fighters, if not great match-ups.
We’ll have to see who Zanfer will schedule to face these talented fighters. However, given that these are fights without fans, you can’t expect much.
Promoter Beltran will be making sure that they follow safety protocols to make sure the fighters are protected in restarting boxing in June. With the pandemic still going on, these efforts are needed to protect the fighters and the fans during this period.
WBC super featherweight champion Berchelt (37-1, 33 KOs) and WBO 108-pound champion Elwin Soto (17-1, 12 KOs) WON’T have their titles on the line for their fights without fans in June.
According to ESPN MX, these are the dates for the fights in June:
- Emanuel Navarrete and Pedro Campa [140] – June 6
- Omar Aguilar [140] and Jackie Nava – June 13
- Luis Nery [122] and Alan Picasso [126] on June 20
- Miguel Berchelt and Elwin Soto [108] – June 27
“We have the plan to do it in June, very soon we will give an announcement, definitely ‘Vaquero’ Navarrete, Miguel Berchelt, Luis Nery, and we have Omar ‘Pollo’ Aguilar, we have a very active June behind closed doors, we are refining the last details to be able to give a formal announcement,” said Beltran to ESPN MX about his June shows.
WBO super bantamweight champion Navarrete (31-1, 27 KOs) is coming off of an impressive 11th round knockout win over challenger Jeo Santisima (19-3, 16 KOs) on February 22 in Las Vegas. The two fought in a high visibility clash on the undercard of Deontay Wilder vs. Tyson Fury II on pay-per-view.
Navarrete, 25, is a fighter that is rocketing to stardom in a hurry following his upset 12 round decision win over former WBO 122-pound champion Isaac Dogboe in December 2018. Since that huge victory, Navarette has successfully defended his WBO super bantamweight title five times in beating these fighters:
- Isaac Dogboe
- Fransico Horta
- Juan Miguel Elorde
- Jeo Santisma
- Francisco De Vaca
Top Rank would like to match Navarette against the other champions at 122 in Murodjon Akhmadaliev and Rey Vargas. However, it’s more likely that Navarrete will need to move up to featherweight [126] for him to get essential fights against the name fighters.
Once Navarette moves up to 126, he’ll be able to go after guys like Josh Warrington, Shakur Stevenson, and Gary Russell Jr. The politics in boxing could make it difficult, if not impossible, for some of those fights to get made, unfortunately.
