By Miguel Rivera
According to World Boxing Council President Mauricio Sulaiman, an agreement was reached for a mandatory showdown between WBC super featherweight world champion Miguel Berchelt and challenger Takashi Miura of Japan.
Sulaiman says Golden Boy Promotions, who handle Miura with Teiken Promotions, will promote the event. The initial date is June 24 as a featured fight on HBO, but there is a second option for July 15.
Berchelt is coming off a career defining win after he dethroned previously undefeated Francisco 'Bandido' Vargas to capture the world title in January at Fantasy Springs Casino in Indio, California. In the co-feature of the same card, Miura knocked out Miguel 'Micky' Roman in a final WBC eliminator. Prior to that event, the WBC had ordered the winners of both bouts to face each other.
Miura (31-3-2, 24 KOs) lost the WBC title in the 2015 Fight of The Year when he was stopped by Vargas at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas. Vargas was down and badly hurt, but came back from behind to knock Miura out in the ninth round.
Berchelt (31-1, 28 KOs) has come a long way since suffering a shocking first round knockout loss to Luis Florez in March of 2014.
Since that defeat, he's won his last ten fights - all by knockout.
Berchelt capture the interim-WBO title in March of last year when he knocked out British contender George Jupp - which got ordered after then champion Roman Martinez withdrew from their scheduled fight. He then knocked out Suriya Tatakhun in four rounds in July.
Against Vargas in January, Vargas made things close but he was taking punishment round after round and his face was a bloody, swollen mess. The war continued until Vargas' corner and the ringside officials had seen enough in the eleventh round.
