By Miguel Rivera
There will be a big prize in store for the winner of the planned rematch between WBC super featherweight champion Miguel Berchelt and former beltholder Francisco Vargas.
The two boxers are scheduled to collide on March 23 at The Forum in Inglewood, California. Top Rank will promote the card and the event will be televised by ESPN.
Two years ago, in January 2017, Berchelt arrived on the scene when he broke down and stopped an undefeated Vargas to capture the WBC title.
Top Rank president Todd duBoef told ESPN that the Vargas vs. Berchelt rematch winner would be in line or a fight with current WBA lightweight champion Vasiliy Lomachenko by the end of the year.
Vargas (25-1-2, 18 KOs) has not fought since a knockout of Rod Salka in the sixth round in April.
In his last fight, Berchelt (35-1, 31 KOs) retained the belt when he stopped mandatory challenger Miguel 'Mickey' Román in the ninth round on November 3 in El Paso, Texas.
"His first fight was good, but he stopped because of the cuts, Berchelt has improved and now we'll see where Vargas is," Golden Boy Promotions president Eric Gómez, who promotes Vargas, told ESPN. "Vargas is tough and he always fights, he wanted this fight, we'll see if he can overthrow Berchelt and recover the title."
Zanfer Promotions' Juan Carlos Torres approached Gomez to see what his interest was in the rematch. Golden Boy and Zanfer jointly promote junior middleweight champion Jaime Munguia.
"Juan Carlos asked me if we were still interested in the rematch, which we had talked about a few times before," said Gómez. "Vargas wanted it, so we made the deal, I talked a bit with Carl Moretti (Vice President of Top Rank) and we made it real, it will be another good fight."
Lomachenko (12-1, 9 KOs) will face an opponent to be determined on April 12 at Staples Center.
"Berchelt has shown interest in fighting against Loma, and I think the winner of this fight is in the fight to fight him later in the year," said duBoef.
