Was never high on Berchelt. He's a good fighter w/ a high workrate and stamina, but that's about it. I didn't even think he was the big puncher people him out to be. However, I was impressed by the balls on this man last night. He took hellacious shot after hellacious shot and was dropped and wobbled like 8X and he still pressed forward. Hope he's okay, but he probably left it all in the ring and will return as a shell.
He wanted to quit but his team didn't let him. Either way, I give Berchelt credit for being a warrior. Im a big fan of his and was sad to see him lose like that. Im excited for Valdez now, let's see what he can do.
I was never that impressed by Berchelt. Quality fighter for sure but to me he was just another one of those guys whose size, strength and power were a big asset for them because they're massive for the weight class. The size of his heart is also massive though and I wish his team or the ref had pulled him out before the finish it was so obvious he was getting KO'd. Valdez I've always been quite high on but he's really struggled and been hurt or dropped in a number of his fights and it looked like he was never destined to live up to the expectations many had of him.
Berchelt comes in with his chin exposed and throws wide looping punches. And I always felt he was more of an arm puncher and didn't really carry big power. Valdez was at a styles advantage from the get go.
I thought Berchelt was a more powerful Jarrett Hurd, but he reminded me too much of Hurd last night. Lots of following, throwing shots without great leverage and too open defensively. He's a brave warrior, though, and I wish his corner had pulled him.
In one of the latter rounds when he walked to his corner and sat down he said "esto ya valio verga", its slang that translates to "there is no hope", or "the fight is done". His team were like "No, No, No, No, you can do it....." But yeah, big credit for going out on his shield.
When you're huge for the weight class your power, strength, toughness and just overall physicality are magnified against naturally smaller opponents ala Spence vs all those career 140 pounders and blown up 135 Mikey they've been feeding him. Spence looks beastly against leprechauns and garden gnomes but it's hardly a coincidence he has really struggled when actually facing world class opponents his own size. It's different when you move up and you're facing opponents your own size, bigger or much bigger and I think Berchelt would've found that out quite quickly had he moved up to 135.
Berchelt is a perfect example of a fighter who is very heavy-handed but lacks TNT. That is probably a more accurate assessment about his "lack of big power". The reason Berchelt was the favorite was because Oscar Valdez was notorious for unraveling defensively in his previous fights. What people didn't know was that Valdez worked on that defense and worked on fighting a more intelligent fight. Berchelt had absolutely no answers.
