Miguel Berchelt vs. Jeremiah Nakathila: date, time, how to watch, background

FIGHT WEEK

Miguel Berchelt will fight Jeremiah Nakathila at 135 pounds Saturday in first fight since he lost his 130-pound title to Oscar Valdez.

Miguel Berchelt (38-2, 34 KOs) vs. Jeremiah Nakathila (22-2, 18 KOs)

Date: Saturday, March 26 Time: 10 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT (main event later in show) Where: Resorts World Las Vegas, Las Vegas TV/Stream: ESPN Division: Lightweight (135 pounds) Rounds: 12 At stake: No major titles Pound-for-pound ranking: None Odds: NA Also on the card: Jose Enrique Vivas vs. Enrique Baez, featherweights Prediction: Berchelt KO 7 Background: The fighters have a combined 52 knockouts in their 60 victories, which means this matchup of sluggers isn’t likely to go the distance. Berchelt suffered a devastating loss to Oscar Valdez in February of last year, a one-sided fight in which he went down three times and was stopped in the 10^th round. That cost him his 130-pound title, put an end to the considerable momentum he had built the past several years and raised questions about his limitations. The 30-year-old Mexican had stopped 16 of his previous 17 opponents, including Francisco Vargas (twice), Takashi Miura, Jonathan Victor Barros, Miguel Roman and Jason Sosa. Nakathila had his own momentum-crushing setback in June of last year, when he was outclassed and shut out over 12 rounds by the gifted Shakur Stevenson in his U.S. debut. The 32-year-old Namibian bounced back to stop Ndodana Ncube of Zimbabwe in two rounds four months later in his home country. Nakathila probably matches up better against a slugger like Berchelt than he did against the slick, athletic Stevenson.