After Miguel Berchelt and Takashi Miura won their respective fights in late January, it was only a matter of time before the two of them would showcase their skills and stake their claim to be the best at 130 pounds.
Berchelt proved that he was the superior boxer by defeating Miura with a landslide decision victory (120-109, 119-108 and 116-111) to retain the WBC super featherweight title in his first defense. The fight headlined a full slate of title fights on HBO.
The champion was dominant from the beginning, knocking down Miura late in the first round of the fight. According to CompuBox punch statistics, Berchelt landed 245 of 745 punches (33 percent) and Miura connected with 134 of 436 blows (31 percent).
"I knew it was going to be a tough fight, but I was always the better fighter," Berchelt said after the fight. "I'm very happy for the win. I knew I was going to win. Miura has the toughest left hand in the division, and he was hitting me and hurting me sometimes."
Berchelt now joins Gervonta Davis (IBF), Vasyl Lomachenko (WBO) and Jezreel Corrales (WBA) as the super featherweight world champions who have defended their respective titles at least once in 2017. Corrales defended his title on the HBO card, winning a technical decision over Robinson Castellanos late in the 10th round of their fight.
Corrales dropped Castellanos with a left hand that banged Castellanos' glove into his face to cause the knockdown late in the seventh round.
The fight ended in the 10th round when there was a brutal headbutt that badly cut Castellanos under the right eye. The ringside doctor examined Castellanos and referee Jerry Cantu stopped the fight upon advice from the doctor.
Corrales won the WBA title during a two-fight series against former champion Takashi Uchiyama throughout 2016. Corrales was the WBA's interim champion at 130 pounds before fighting Uchiyama.
As for the rest of the division's world champions, Lomachenko is defending his title next month while Davis' next fight has yet to be announced, although it is rumored that he may be fighting on the Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor undercard.
