In two fascinating rematches, Miguel Berchalt defends his WBC junior-lightweight belt against fellow Mexican Francisco Vargas, and Mexico?s Emmanuel Navarrete defends his WBO junior-featherweight belt against Isaac Dogboe of Accra Ghana in a double-header at the Convention Center in Tucson, Arizona, on Saturday night.
In their first fight in Indio, California, on January 28, 2017, the 27-year-old Berchalt (35-1; 31) stopped Vargas (25-1; 18) in the 11th round.
In a remorseless battle Vargas was cut on the bridge of the nose and also cut on the right eye and then cut on the left eye from an accidental head butt.
The fight was stopped and ruled a knockout in terms of the Californian rules, with the scores at the time 95-95 and 96-94 twice in favour of the champion.
Berchalt, 31, has had four fights since his fight with Vargas, retaining his belt against Takashi Miura (pts 12), Maxwell Awuku (tko 3), Jonathan Victor Barros (tko 3) and Miguel Roman (tko 9).
The 34-year-old Vargas has had two outings since, winning against Stephen Smith (tec dec 6) and Rod Salka (rtd 9).
The champion has won 14 fights since losing on a first-round stoppage against Luis Eduardo Florez in March 2014.
The hard-hitting Berchalt must be favoured to win again and possibly inside the distance.
The other main organisation champions are, WBA ?super? Gervonte Davis (USA), WBA ?secondary? Andrew Cancio (USA), IBF, Tevin Farmer (USA), and WBO, Masayuki Ito (Japan).
DOGBOE HOPING FOR REVENGE
The London-based Isaac Dogboe, 24, who has a record of 20-1; 14, is hoping to reverse the result against the 24-year-old Emmanuel Navarrete (26-1; 22) after their closely-fought encounter in December last year.
Dogboe lost his WBO junior-featherweight belt on a unanimous point?s decision with scores of 116-112 twice and 115-113.
Navarrete has big advantages in height and reach and his non-stop attacking style should see him once again win a closely-fought fight on points.
The other main organisation junior-featherweight champions are WBA/IBF, Daniel Roman (USA), and WBC, Rey Vargas (Mexico).
