by Keith Idec
Francisco Vargas and Miguel Berchelt both made weight on their first attempts Friday for their 130-pound title fight Saturday night.
Mexico City’s Vargas weighed in at 129.6 pounds for their HBO “Boxing After Dark” main event at Fantasy Springs Resort Casino in Indio, California. Berchalt, of Merida, Mexico, weighed slightly more than Vargas (129.8 pounds).
They’ll fight for Vargas’ WBC world super featherweight championship and Berchelt’s interim WBO super featherweight title in a scheduled 12-round bout. The 32-year-old Vargas is a slight favorite over the 25-year-old Berchelt.
The opener of HBO’s doubleheader will match Japan’s Takashi Miura (30-3-2, 23 KOs), a former WBC super featherweight champion, against Mexico’s Miguel Roman (56-11, 43 KOs).
Miura weighed in at 129.8 pounds Friday, more than Roman (129.2). Miura, 32, also is a slight favorite over Roman, 31, entering their 12-rounder.
If Vargas and Miura win Saturday night, they’re expected to meet in a rematch next. Vargas knocked out Miura in the ninth round of a fantastic fight on the Canelo Alvarez-Miguel Cotto undercard in November 2015 at Las Vegas’ Mandalay Bay Events Center.
HBO’s telecast is scheduled to start at 10 p.m. ET on Saturday night.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
