By Chris Williams: Jamel ‘Semper-fi’ Herring is trying to throw a wrench into Top Rank promoter Bob Arum’s grand vision by saying he should fight Miguel Berchelt next. At the same time, Shakur Stevenson faces Oscar Valdez in a unification fight at 130.
It’s doubtful that Arum will entertain the idea of letting the 35-year-old Herring fight former WBC super featherweight champion Berchelt because he’s got BIG plans for him. A more realistic fight for the recently knocked out ‘Semper Fi’ Herring is to face Chris Colbert, Andrew Cancio, Brock Jarvis, Tevin Farmer, or Robson Conceicao. Half of those guys would likely beat Herring.
This is not part of Arum’s plans that he’s laid out for 2022, as he wants these two fights:
- Shakur Stevenson vs. Miguel Berchelt
- Oscar Valdez vs. Emanuel Navarrete
The winner of those two fights will meet later in 2022, with the WBC and WBO super featherweight titles on the line.
If Stevenson is the fighter he thinks he is, he should have no problems beating Berchelt. Of course, if Shakur loses that fight, we were wrong about him being Mayweather 2.0.
Not only must Stevenson beat Berchelt, but he must do it in an entertaining style by not using that boring ‘pull-back’ style that we’ve seen from him through most of his career.
Stevenson has got to stay in the pocket and fight Berchelt because if he resorts to the sleep-inducing pull-back style of his, it’s going to bore the fans to tears, and they’ll boo him out of the arena.
While Shakur is at, he needs to stop with the sound effects when he throws punches. All that racket that Stevenson makes when he throws shots is unnecessary, and it’s so annoying to listen to.
Valdez vs. Stevenson needs to marinate
Arum has a good idea pushing for these two fights because newly crowned WBO super featherweight champion Stevenson (17-0, 9 KOs) and WBC champion Valdez (30-0, 23 KOs) need to let their match marinate more rather than rushing straight into it.
We all know that Shakur has this intense need to immediately face Valdez in a unification fight at 130, but he needs to hold his horses and let Arum build the fight.
In the long run, Shakur will thank Arum for letting the Valdez fight marinate because it’ll make more money. If Stevenson doesn’t care about money, that’s his problem but Arum DOES care.
I’m fairly certain Valdez would like his match-up with the pushy Shakur to make as much green as possible.
“I want Valdez to fight Emanuel Navarrete, and to match Shakur against maybe Berchelt, who Valdez beat in a spectacular fight,” said Arum to Sky Sports.
“We’d see how Shakur does with Berchelt, then we can match the winners,” said Arum.
That idea sounds good to Chris Williams. Stevenson and Valdez should fight interim matches before meeting up in the second half of 2022 for all the gravy. If one or both of those fighters get beaten in their interim fights, so be it. They weren’t good enough.
“They might as well match me up with Miguel [Berchelt], or give me the IBF winner since everyone’s being so generous. Overall, let’s be honest, Shakur and Oscar [Valdez] is the fight to make. I’ma enjoy this time off though, no ill feelings, or bitterness in my heart. Just put on good fights,” said Jamel Herring @JamelHerring.
“I like, and respect him, but I chased that fight [against Miguel Berchelt] for 2 years as it is. Makes sense to make it happen. We’ll see though.”
Sorry, Herring, but you lost your last fight, so you’re not going to mess up Arum’s plans for Berchelt. A good fight for you would be Colbert, Brock Jarvis, or Robson Conceicao.
The way that Herring was dominated by Shakur, it’s hard to imagine Arum wanting to put him in with a live dog in his next fight. Herring looked like a 45-year-old, not a 35-year-old, and he’s not going to beat Berchelt like that.
It would be a waste of time for Arum to bother using Berchelt for a fight with Herring because he would be putting him out of his misery by sending him into retirement with another knockout loss.