by Cliff Rold

It’s the curse of the remote control.

We’re in the mood to laugh, flipping channels, and find Wedding Crashers at one stop of the dial, Dazed and Confused on another. Both are hilarious, classic comedies. One was big time star fare, the other an independent gem.

They’re on at the same time. Which one do we pick?

Live sports present similar choices sometimes but, unlike classic movies, we don’t know what to expect. Which event demands attention more right this second; what result must be known first and as it happens?

Almost always, the answer will be the bigger blockbuster.

In terms of marquee names, Showtime has the bigger show this weekend. The quality of the combatants is also stronger on paper. We don’t know if the action in the ring will play out that way. HBO (10 PM EST) has a potential war in their main event and while it might not require the more immediate attention, there is a strong chance fans will want to avoid their social media feeds so they can enjoy this one as live as possible. 

Let’s go the report card.

The Ledger

Francisco Vargas

Age: 32

Title: WBC super featherweight (2015-Present, 1 Defense)

Previous Titles: None

Height: 5’8  

Weight: 129 ½ lbs.

Hails from: Mexico City, Mexico

Record: 23-0-2, 17 KO?

Record in Major Title Fights: 1-0-1, 1 KO

Rankings: #2 (ESPN, Ring, BoxRec), #3 (BoxingScene, TBRB, Boxing Monthly)

Current/Former World Champions/Titlists Faced: 3 (Juan Manuel Lopez RTD3; Takashi Miura TKO9; Orlando Salido D12)

Vs.

Miguel Berchelt

Age: 25

Title: None

Previous Titles: None

Height: 5’7  

Weight: 129 ¾ lbs.

Hails from: Merida, Yucatán, Mexico 

Record: 30-1, 27 KO, 1 KOBY

Record in Major Title Fights: 1st major title fight

Rankings: #8 (Boxing Monthly), #10 (BoxingScene)

Current/Former World Champions/Titlists Faced: 1 (Cristobal Cruz TKO5)

Grades

Pre-Fight: Speed – Vargas B; Berchelt B

Pre-Fight: Power – Vargas B+; Berchelt B+

Pre-Fight: Defense – Vargas C+; Berchelt C+

Pre-Fight: Intangibles – Vargas A; Berchelt B

In his last two fights, Vargas has shown boxing fans everything they’d need to see to love him. His will, power, recuperative ability, and refusal to back down from escalation in savage wars were an endearing combination. Two years in a row, he was one half of a near sweep of the bulk of the Fight of the Year honors. Boxing fans might not be as jazzed for his fight this weekend as they are for Showtime’s Carl Frampton-Leo Santa Cruz rematch, but HBO’s reach might mean he gets more eyeballs.

If anticipation is quiet, it might be because so few English-speaking fans have seen his opponent. Berchelt is familiar to the hardcore sorts who tune in regularly to BeIn Espanol broadcasts but might not be to anyone else. This is a chance to introduce himself and he has a real chance at the upset.

Berchelt is seven years younger than Vargas and certainly has fewer miles than Vargas accumulated in his last two outings. He’s a hair shorter but has long arms, uses his feet, and can punch. How significant is his power?  The numbers are excellent but his foes so far are mostly standard building fare. The most notable names on his record, like Cruz and Chonlatarn Piriyapinyo, were both deep into their careers when he stopped them.

In his favor, he stopped Piriyapinyo in four in his last fight less than two years after the Thai veteran took Vasyl Lomachenko the distance and it was his first stoppage loss. So far, the power looks legitimate.

But can the challenger catch?

That’s a big question this weekend. We already know the answer for Vargas. He can take punishment and does, only to come back and keep fighting. Berchelt has been stopped before. The left hook that left him too wobbly for the referee to let him go on in 2014 was the sort of blind, early shot that can land on anyone. To his credit, Berchelt made it to his feet and wanted to continue but his legs were a mess.

Vargas can land some serious heat. He was well behind against Miura when he roared back to stop him. He never stops believing in his heavy hands. The trouble here could be getting Berchelt to engage. The challenger likes to move and has done more of it since his lone loss in 2014. Like a lot of guys with gaudy knockout numbers, getting stopped increased his attention to defense.

When they do settle down to engage, both men are going to let their hands go. Berchelt has decent head movement that could create countering opportunities. Vargas is used to the trenches and will look to counter those counters. Berchelt might be a little faster but it’s hard to tell given the recent gap in opponent quality.

If Berchelt can take Vargas’s shots, this has the makings of another classic for Vargas.  

The Pick

On name recognition, this should be an easy pick. Vargas is the known commodity; his name comes up in attractive future fights. That doesn’t mean he’s going to win. Berchelt is going to test how much the accumulation of recent warfare has impacted Vargas. We may see a situation where Vargas is coming off the floor at some point. If we do, from there we probably get to see Berchelt prove whether he has the sort of durability Vargas has displayed. Vargas isn’t going to lose easy. On a hunch, the pick here guesses that Berchelt won’t fold. The pick is the younger, fresher fighter in an excellent contest.

Report Card and Staff Picks 2017: 0-1

Cliff Rold is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene, a founding member of the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board, and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America.  He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com