Miguel Ángel Berchelt vs. Maxwell Awuku

El Alacran will be making his second defense of the WBC 130lb title a week from Saturday on beIN Sport Español. The date has been set for quite some time, but the opponent...well, that has undergone numerous revisions.

Cristian Mijares was going to step up and capitalize on his improbable climb in a new weight division years past his prime, having clawed his way up the rankings - but reportedly balked at what he considered a low-ball offer and walked away.

Then in stepped Carlo Magali to replace him...but for some reason that fell through.

Briefly it was rumored that Jon Fernández would put his undefeated record on the line in a big step up to challenge Berchelt - and yet Jonfer has also gone in another direction, with a new opponent.

The last (willing) man standing is Maxwell Awuku, of Ghana. He is 44-3-1 (30). Awuku hasn't lost in almost 3 years, and just the once since 2010, and before that all the way in 2005 - and the more recent two were against 7-0 Liam Walsh and Daud Cino Yordan, nothing to sneeze at. As for his W column, though - it has more padding than a J-Lo impersonator's Spanx. His last really decent opponent was Lehlo Ledwaba (yes the same one Pacquiao fought), in 2006 - and that was a 35 year old Ledwaba in his last ever fight.

Awuku has an inch of height on Berchelt, and reportedly gave both a green Walsh and somewhat battle-weary Yordan some difficulties in those losses, both over the full 12 round distance.

 

Awuku isn't even ranked in the WBC top 40: http://wbcboxing.com/wbceng/ratings?layout=edit&id=150

(Magali is #39, Fernández #16, and Mijares #5)

 

Walsh vs. Awuku:
(warning: very little meat on this bone. The video is heavily edited with dramatic music, tinting, slow-mo...and contains very little actual fight footage)

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Yordan vs. Awuku (full):

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Actually, turns out within the last 24 hours after Magali was ruled out there was yet another player in the mix. For a brief time Berchelt was set to go to Korea to defend his belt against Yoon Sung Kim, before they settled on Awuku.

 

It should be made official tomorrow; Berchelt is allowed to face Awuku in a voluntary defense so long as he meets his mandatory next (Micky Roman).

 

Well I did some digging and apparently Awuku has been chasing after a fight with Emanuel Tagoe for seven years now (which I'll admit is far longer than Tagoe has even been on my radar) in the hopes of proving h2h that he, not Tagoe, is the "next big thing" out of Ghana.

Some people in the know about the African scene apparently think a meeting between them might bear that out.

 

I feel like I've been hearing the name for a while now, but until literally a week ago he never had fought anybody, really. His best win before Saucedo was 43 year old Mzonke Fana, and before that Carlos freaking Magali (speak of the devil).