Los Angeles (AFP) – Miguel Berchelt dethroned previously unbeaten Francisco Vargas, stopping him in the 11th round to seize the World Boxing Council super featherweight title in a showdown of Mexican rivals.
Referee Raul Caiz halted the bout 2:19 into the 11th round after a bloody cut over the left eye of Vargas left the champion unable to see or stop the triumphant challenger.
“Francisco Vargas is a great champion. When he’s hurt he throws a lot more punches. He’s got a lot of heart,” Berchelt said. “But I came here to win. I came here to show I have heart. I came here to be the champion.”
Berchelt, 25, improved to 31-1 with his 28th early stoppage and 10th consecutive victory while Vargas, 32, fell to 23-1 with two drawn.
“This is what I always wanted,” Berchelt said. “I’m young. I’m hungry. I wanted to be a world champion. Now I have the belt on my waist and it feels the best.”
Japan’s Takashi Miura, who lost the title to Vargas 14 months ago, knocked out Mexico’s Miguel Roman 53 seconds into the 12th round on the undercard at Indio, California, to become Berchelt’s mandatory title challenger.
Berchelt, fighting outside Mexico for only the second time, repeatedly connected with punishing left hooks in the second and third rounds. His hard rights to the head in the fourth again slowed Vargas, opening cuts over both eyes in the exchanges.
Going past the sixth round for the first time in his career, Berchelt kept up the intensity. Caiz and ringside doctor Paul Wallace checked Vargas in the ninth and 10th rounds and allowed him to continue.
Blood began flowing freely from the gash over Vargas’s swollen left eye in the ninth and by the 11th was more than the champion could overcome.
“The cut was a big problem. It wouldn’t let me do what I wanted,” Vargas said. “I was never going to stop. I was always going to fight. I’m a warrior. I fight ’til the end.
“But it was just the blood. I couldn’t see. I wasn’t able to fight.”
– Miura’s latest-round KO –
Miura improved to 31-3 with two drawn by taking his 24th career knockout, his first knockout beyond the ninth round, while Roman fell to 56-12 with his 18-fight win streak snapped.
Miura, 32, and Roman, 31, had fast-paced, hard-punching early rounds. Miura’s left eye began swelling in the fourth round and both fighters landed punishing body blows.
Roman connected with a punishing right to Miura’s jaw in the sixth, setting up a flurry by the Mexican that weakened the former champion.
The Asian southpaw suffered a bloody lip but fired back in the seventh with renewed vigor, trading powerful punches.
Roman suffered a cut over his left eye in the eighth on an accidental head-butt from Miura, who exchanged hard punches in the ninth and buckled the Mexican momentarily in the 10th.
Miura knocked down Roman late in the 10th with a sledgehammer left hand to the body and dropped Roman again in the 11th with a flurry of body punches.
Early in the 12th round, Miura landed a left to the head that left Roman lying on the canvas and referee Tom Taylor counted him out.
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