ESPN’s Dan Rafael is reporting that a pretty good looking Golden tripleheader may be coming to HBO on July 15th. Joe Smith Jr versus Sullivan Barerra has already been rumored for the date and network for a little while now and now we have its potential main event in a junior lightweight title fight between Miguel Berchelt against Takashi Miura.
Miguel Berchelt (31-1, 28 KOs) burst on to the highest level of the sport this January when he won his WBC junior lightweight title by largely controlling and then stopping Francisco Vargas in the 11th. Takashi Miura is also known for fighting Vargas as they engaged in the 2015 fight of the year on the Canelo/Cotto undercard. Miura started great in that fight, badly hurting and dropping Vargas, but the Mexico City warrior battled back to stop Miura in an incredible fight. This is a really great fight potentially, but I do expect Berchelt to be able to control it a bit.
Joe Smith Jr (23-1, 19 KOs) against Sullivan Barerra (19-1, 14 KOs) is really good fight too. Smith burst on the scene in 2016 with a shocking first round KO of Andzrezj Fonfara in one of the bigger upsets in 2016. He cemented his spot as a top light heavyweight last December by finally being the man to retire the almost ageless Bernard Hopkins with an eighth round stoppage that sent the legend clear out of the ring. Sullivan Barerra, a product of the legendary Cuban amateur system, is best known for his wide loss to pound for pound elite Andre Ward last March, but he has rebounded with two stoppage wins including an impressive win over the previously unbeaten Ukranian prospect Vyacheslav Shabranskyy.
Also rumored for the card’s opener is Jezreel Corrales’s (21-1, 8 KOs) potential second title defense and Golden Boy debut against Robinson Castellanos (24-12, 14 KOs). Castellanos is coming off a Cinco de Mayo upset over Yuriorkis Gamboa in a fight in which he made the former Cuban star quit. Panamanian Corrales won his title WBA junior lightweight in a shocking knockout upset last spring over longtime titlist Takashi Uchiyama. He legitimized as a non-fluke later in the year with a rematch decision win. Jezreel Corrales would be a big favorite here, but Castellanos’s record is quite deceiving. He would be a live underdog.
All in all if this card comes through as rumored it will be a great addition to the summer boxing schedule. It is also nice to see HBO still buying fights at this point. Looking to the future, a matchup between the Belchelt/Miura and Corrales/Castellanos winners would bring some unification and be great for the division as well.
