By Steve Kim
BoxingScene.com has been advised that the bout between WBC super featherweight titlist Miguel Berchelt and his mandatory challenger Miguel Roman has been picked up by ESPN+.
While some reports had the contest heading to dates in October, this match-up is scheduled for November 3rd.
Initially, the contest appeared to be heading over to HBO - which featured both boxers since early last year - but reports recently surfaced that Berchelt-Roman was likely heading to a different outlet - with ESPN, DAZN and Showtime reportedly expressing interest in showcasing the bout.
Berchelt (34-1, 30 KO's) has made three successful defenses of his title that he won by stopping Francisco Vargas in January of 2017. He most recently fought on June 23rd where he halted veteran Jonathan Barros in three rounds in Mexico.
Berchelt has established himself as one of the best fighters today with victories over names like Vargas, Takashi Miura, Maxwell Awuku and Barros.
Zanfer Promotions of Mexico is the lead promoter of Berchelt, who currently is not aligned to any promotional entity in the United States. Golden Boy Promotions had options on him in the wake of his win over Vargas, but that has already expired.
The well-traveled Roman (60-12, 47 KO's) in December stopped Orlando Salido and has followed that up with stoppages of Aristides Perez (TKO4) and Michel Marcano (KO2).
Roman became the mandatory challenger last fall, when he upset Salido in Las Vegas. At the time Salido was the mandatory challenger to the belt. The knockout of Perez took place back in February, and then he followed that up with the knockout of Marcano only a few months later, in June.
This fan-friendly match-up of Mexicans will most likely land in either Los Angeles or Texas.
Steve Kim is the news editor for BoxingScene.com.
