Big-punching Miguel Berchelt will put his WBC junior lightweight title on the line for the sixth time when he meets Jason Sosa at Dignity Health Sports Park, in Carson, California, on Saturday.

Berchelt, who is rated No. 1 by The Ring at 130 pounds, is respectful of Sosa’s abilities and expects a tough fight.

“It’s a very good fight,” Berchelt (36-1, 32 knockouts) told The Ring through promoter Mario Abraham. “Sosa is a former [WBA] world champion; he wants to win another belt. It’s also classic war between Mexico vs. Puerto Rico.

“He is a good fighter, a true warrior, always goes forward; he has a good left hook. I don’t like to talk about my rival’s weakness.”

The 27-year-old Merida native is coming off an excellent performance against Francisco Vargas in May, when he stopped the ex-champion in six rounds.

“It was a very good fight. Vargas is a Mexican warrior, very tough,” said Berchelt. “He gave me the chance to become world champion and I had to give him the rematch. Maybe it looked like an easy fight but it wasn’t. I really had to do my best; Vargas demanded a lot from me.”

Berchelt is fully focused on Sosa but admits to being interesting in testing himself against some of the best fighters in and around his weight class.

“I am good at 130 but I don’t discard moving to 135 next year,” he said. “I would love to face [The Ring/WBA/WBO lightweight champion Vasiliy] Lomachenko but I have some fights yet at 130.

“Oscar [Valdez] is my friend but this is the fight that I really want. Mexican fans would love it. It would be like [Erik] Morales vs. [Marco Antonio] Barrera wars.”

Abraham, the president of Maxboxing Promotions, co-promotes Berchelt with Zanfer Promotions and feels his fighter is close to securing a big fight.

“I am very happy with Miguel. He improves fight after fight and always faces his opponents at top shape,” said Abraham. “We expect great fights next year. Valdez, maybe Lomachenko, but first we have to concentrate in this fight against Sosa.”

Sosa (23-3-4, 16 KOs) turned professional in 2009. The New Jersey-based fighter got off to a slow start, going 3-1-3 in his first seven fights. However 14 consecutive victories earned him a fight with former featherweight beltholder Nicholas Walters in December of 2015. The two fought to a 10-round majority draw. Although most observers felt Walters deserved the win, Sosa showed his mettle and was rewarded with a fight against Javier Fortuna. He was behind on the scorecards but stunned Fortuna, stopping him in the 11th round. The 31-year-old lost to Lomachenko (RTD 9) and Yuriorkis Gamboa (MD 10) in 2017 but has won three straight to earn his title shot.

Questions and/or comments can be sent to Anson at [email protected] and you can follow him on Twitter @AnsonWainwright.

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