WBC Champ Berchelt December Defense Off Due To Covid 19

The proposed latest title defense in December for WBC Super Featherweight champion Miguel Berchelt is off do to him testing positive for Covid-19.

ESPN Deportes was the first to share the news on Tuesday evening the Berchelt tested positive sometime this past weekend and will have to quarantine and be unable to train for the next couple of weeks.

Berchelt no pelearía el 12/12 ante Óscar Valdez tras positivo a COVID-19 https://t.co/o9i2lJjDXP

— Salvador Rodriguez (@ChavaESPN) November 4, 2020

Although the flight has not been formally announced, Top Rank Boxing promoter Bob Arum had said in multiple interviews that Berchelt title defense would be against unbeaten top Contender Oscar Valdez was tentatively scheduled for December 12th in the MGM Grand Las Vegas “bubble.”

Berchelt was last action back in June. That’s when, he stopped Eleazar Valenzuela in the 6th round in a title defense at the TV Azteca Studios in Mexico City. Berchelt  knocked down Valenzuela  in the opening round, then continued with a body-head assault until a barrage of rights and left hooks upstairs prompted referee Cesar Castanon to stop the fight at 1:13 of in the sixth.

That win improved Berchelt to 38 – 1 with 34 KOs and put him in position for this featured fight on a Saturday night later in the year. Valdez was also victorious in the Vegas bubble, himself back in July. That’s when he stopped Super Featherweight veteran Jason Velez in the 9th round of their main event.

It is believed that, if Berchelt gets past the 28 – 0 Valdez, that Arum and Top Rank would eventually want him to take a unification battle with WBO 130 lb. champ Jamel Herring later in 2021.

Herring, the 34 year old New York native and former U.S. Marine with two tours of duty in the Iraq War, made the second successful defense of his WBO belt in early September by gutting out a 9th round DQ win in Las Vegas over Jonathan Oquendo.

Also, for now, Herring is slated to fight former World Featherweight Champ Carl Frampton of Ireland probably in January of next year another Top Rank show that will likely be back in the Vegas bubble.