Having forfeited his WBC crown to Oscar Valdez in a stirring all-Mexican battle last month, Miguel Berchelt plans to abandon the super-featherweight ranks and join the vibrant 135lbs division.
A respectful Berchelt has paid tribute to conqueror Valdez, who halted him in the 10th round at the MGM Las Vegas two weeks ago, but now feels his body has outgrown the super-featherweight limit.
“It was not my night, but we must not demerit the work that my opponent Oscar did,” Berchelt told ESPN Deportes. “He made a great fight, made a great preparation and well the result is there, the truth is that it was already very hard for me to make super-featherweight.
“I don’t want to make excuses because at the end of the day I think there are none in boxing. It was not my night, it was not the best version of myself, the truth is that I did not feel as fast as I did on other nights. It may be that the weight affected me, maybe going to lightweight is something that I see in the near future.
“Moving to the lightweight division is something that I see as being very close, but we are going to sit down with our team and see what was done well, what was done wrong, go through the film, make the necessary adjustments and come back stronger.
“People are going to crucify you when the results are not what they want, but the truth is, I felt good, I felt strong and I told [trainer Alfredo] Caballero not to stop the fight. I think that’s why he chose not to stop it. I think he knows his fighter, he knows about my goal – that I wanted to win.”