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Miguel Berchelt vs. Francisco Vargas rematch to take place in Arizona

Fighters Network
13
Mar

The WBC world title fight between Miguel Berchelt and challenger Francisco Vargas on May 11 will take place at the Convention Center in Tucson, Arizona, Top Rank Vice President of Operations Carl Moretti told The Ring.

Also taking place on May 11 will be the rematch between WBO junior featherweight titleholder Emanuel Navarrete and Isaac Dogboe. 

Both fights will air live on ESPN and ESPN Deportes.

The Top Rank card was originally scheduled to take place on Mar. 23 at The Forum in Inglewood, California. The fight was postponed last month after it was revealed Berchelt suffered an injury to his right hand during training.



A date was finalized, but it meant the fight would not take place in Southern California. 

“We did everything we could to keep the fight in the L.A. area,” Moretti told The Ring. “No venue in the area was available.”

Berchelt and Vargas squared off in January of 2017 in Indio, California. In one of the best action fights of the year, Berchelt stopped Vargas in round 11 , winning the WBC junior lightweight title.  

The 27-year-old Berchelt (35-1, 31 knockouts), who is co-promoted by Top Rank and Zanfer Promotions, stopped Miguel ‘Mickey’ Roman in his last bout on Nov. 3 in El Paso, Texas. The win over Roman was Berchelt’s fourth title defense of the WBC title.

Berchelt, who resides in Merida, has stopped 13 of his last 14 opponents. 

Vargas (25-1-2, 18 KOs), who is the mandatory challenger to face Berchelt, has won his last two bouts since the first Berchelt fight. In his last bout on Apr. 12, Vargas, who resides in Mexico City, stopped Rod Salka after the end of the sixth round.

The clash between Navarrete and Dogboe is a rematch of their Dec. 8 bout in New York City, which Navarrete won by unanimous decision.

The 24-year-old Navarrete (26-1, 22 KOs), who also resides in Mexico City, suffered his only defeat as a pro at the hands of Daniel Argueta in July of 2012. Navarrete is promoted by Zanfer Promotions. 

In the Navarrete fight, Dogboe (20-1, 14 KOs) was attempting to make the second defense of the WBO title he won from Jessie Magdaleno on Apr. 28. He is originally from Accra, Ghana and now resides in London. 

Francisco A. Salazar has written for RingTV.com since October of 2013 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (California) Star newspaper, Boxingscene, and FightNights.com. He can be reached by email at [email protected] or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing       

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