By Jake Donovan

Miguel Berchelt has messed with the wrong Marine.

Unfortunately, it’s not even in the ring—yet.

The longest reigning current 130-pound titlist in the 130-pound division has dramatically changed his tune on the prospects of a unification bout with recently crowned title claimant Jamel Herring, revealing as much when recently approached on the subject by this site.

“He should worry about building up his name,” Berchelt told BoxingScene.com’s Ryan Burton. “If he is able to keep his title then down the road we can unify when the fight will be a lot bigger because right now it isn’t worth much.” 

Herring (20-2, 10KOs) claimed his first career major title following a dominant 12-round win over exiting titlist Masayuki Ito this past May in Kissimmee, Fla. The win took place on the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend, with the patriotic theme playing to Herring’s time spent as a decorated U.S, Marine, a tour of duty which included twice being deployed to Iraq. The Long Island (N.Y.)-bred southpaw was also the captain of the U.S.boxing team which competed in the 2012 London Olympics.

Berchelt was an established presence throughout fight week, complete with joining Herring in the ring following the win and where he seemed receptive to the idea of the two colliding next when interviewed by ESPN’s Crystina Poncher.

The pairing is a natural fit since Mexico’s Berchelt (36-1, 32KOs) had just defended his title in his own ESPN headliner just two weeks prior, stopping Francisco Vargas in the 6th round of their rematch. The bout was considerably less competitive than their Jan. 2017 slugfest when Berchelt unseated his countryman.

After the rematch, he was all the way on board with facing the winner of the May 25 ESPN headliner, “because I don’t want to leave any doubt as to who the best super featherweight in the world is.”

Fast forward to present day, where he now claims such talk was just that.

“I was never offered that fight,” Berchelt claimed. “I just think he likes to talk a lot. He can keep fighting on Twitter. I do my fighting in the ring.”

That is precisely where Herring would prefer to do his fighting. Instead, it’s once again on the other side of the ropes as Berchelt attempts to question his credentials all while making public claims which simply aren’t true.

“How wasn’t the fight offer when the same promoter we work with said time and time again before my hand was raised that the winner would fight Berchelt,” Herring points out to BoxingScene.com in response, as both boxers are under the Top Rank and ESPN banner. “It’s a fight that he called for, a fight that can easily be made by Top Rank and ESPN. Let’s not also forget that he made it his business not only to come to the fight, but hop on the stage during the weigh in to pose for pictures with Ito and I.

“If you ask me, his team was expecting Ito to win which is why he was so ready to unify after that fight.”

As much seemed clear as Berchelt was all the way on board for a unification bout until Herring’s arm was raised in victory. Ito’s straightforward fighting style would undoubtedly mesh better than that of Herring, a crafty southpaw who has taken a more aggressive approach since moving down from lightweight but is still more boxer than slugger.

“Look he’s a strong fighter fight but styles make fights, which is also another reason why he doesn’t want the fight now,” believes Herring, who has scored four straight wins since joining Top Rank last May. “We all know he prefers beating on flat footed fighters, and that’s not the type of style you’re getting with me.

“My trainer/manager Brian McIntyre called me over the weekend and told me he sat with Top Rank, where they told him Berchelt didn’t want the fight. Honestly, I take it as a compliment… if I was an easy fight a lot of these champions would’ve been calling me out, but it’s been very quiet. I have nothing against the guy, but I wish he’d quit telling lies. The fact is, he was crying all year around that nobody wanted to fight him, and that he wanted to unify,” points out Herring. “But the minute he has the opportunity, he has a change of heart.” 

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox