By Ian S Palmer
WBC Super Featherweight Champion Miguel Berchelt of Mexico will be defending his belt against Jason Sosa of Camden, new Jersey in Carson, California on Saturday, November 2nd. The 12-round bout can be seen live in the USA on ESPN and ESPN Deportes and on TSN 5 in Canada. Berchelt’s last contest took place in May when he halted Francisco Vargas after five rounds in their rematch. Berchelt originally won the title in the first fight against Vargas with an 11th-round stoppage in a thriller in January, 2017. Sosa last saw action in August when he stopped Haskell Lydell Rhodes in the seventh round.
Berchelt is 27 years old and has an excellent record of 36-1 with 32 Kos. He turned pro back in 2010 and has 143 rounds under his belt since then. He stands 5-feet-7-inches tall with a reach of 71 inches. Berchelt’s record shows he has quite a bit of power and his current knockout ratio is a very impressive 86.5 per cent. His lone loss was a first-round TKO at the hands of Luis Florez in 2014. Berchelt’s best wins have been against Vargas (twice), Miguel Roman, Jonathan Barros, Takashi Miura, George Jupp, Rene Gonzalez, Antonio Escalante, Carlos Reyes and Cristobal Cruz.
Berchelt had a fine amateur career and was a three-time national champion. He’s a fan-friendly boxer with an exciting style who gave fans a couple of classics against very tough customers in Vargas and Miura. He’s defending his title for the sixth time here and would be wise not to take Sosa too lightly. Berchelt can be hit, as Vargas, Miura and others have shown and despite being stopped once he’s displayed a solid chin which should be able to handle Sosa’s best shots on Saturday night.
The 31-year-old Sosa is a former WBA Super Featherweight Champion but the WBA stripped him of his title for taking a bout against Vasyl Lomachenko in April, 2017 in which he was stopped in the ninth round. Sosa enters the bout with a record of 23-3-4 with 16 Kos. He stands 5-feet-5-inches tall with a wingspan of 67 inches which gives him a two-inch height and four-inch reach disadvantage against Berchelt. Sosa has decent power with a current knockout percentage of 53.3 per cent and has boxed 162 rounds since turning pro back in 2009. He was named the Philly Fighter of the Year for 2016 and 15 knockouts in his last 18 victories.
Sosa was also beaten by Treysean Wiggins by first-round TKO in 2010 as well as Yuriorkis Gamboa by 10-round majority decision in November, 2017 in his next fight after losing to Lomachenko. He’s also fought to four draws which were against Jose Ortiz in 2010, Angel Luis Ocasio twice in 2012 and Nicholas Walters in December of 2015. He won the WBA title by stopping Javier Fortuna in the seventh round in China in 2016 has defended it once against Stephen Smith. Sosa’s a fan-friendly aggressive fighter who has so far done performed well when stepping up in class.
Prediction…
Sosa has a lot of heart and will give his best effort on Saturday but it’s doubtful he’ll be able to handle Berchelt’s power and speed. I’m expecting the champion to retain his title and a stoppage is certainly a distinct possibility.
