The matchup between Miguel Berchelt and Eleazar Valenzuela at the TV Azteca Studios on Saturday night in Mexico City wasn’t really a fight. It was an experiment in how much punishment a man can take.
Turns out Valenzuela could take a lot, perhaps too much.
Berchelt, one of the best fighters in the world, used his countryman as a living, breathing heavy bag for five-plus rounds. The 130-pound titleholder, fighting at 135, landed hard, damaging shots to every spot on Valenzuela’s body allowed by the rules.
The shots to the stomach were particularly gruesome, though. Berchelt used perfect positioning and leverage to land punches to the gut that viewers at home could feel.
This was the story of the fight, Berchelt dishing out a disturbing amount of punishment and taking almost none in return. By the fourth round, the ESPN analysts said what a lot of people were thinking: This guys is taking too many punches.
Some probably were thinking that this sort of fight might not end well.
Yet somehow, for five-plus rounds anyway, Valenzuela looked like the toughest guy in Mexico. He was knocked down by a left hook in the opening round but stood his ground from then until the end, taking, taking and taking but still trying to attack.
Alas, in Round 6, Berchelt (38-1, 34 KOs) landed a right-left combination that hurt Valenzuela and followed with another series of punches that prompted referee Cesar Castanon to jump between the fighters and end the slaughter at 1 minute, 13 seconds.
A sigh of relief could be heard reverberating across North America.
The CompuBox numbers underscore the one-sided nature of the fight … er, experiment. Berchelt outlanded Valenzuela 232 to 37. The winner landed more body shots (50) than the loser landed total punches.
And 201 of the punches Berchelt landed were power shots. He threw 321 of them, meaning he landed an eye-popping 63% of his power shots. Of course, those numbers aren’t official but Valenzuela (21-14-4, 16 KOs) wouldn’t dispute them.
Berchelt reportedly is eyeing a title defense against No. 1 contender Oscar Valdez. That, of course, would be an actual fight.
Among preliminaries on Saturday, junior welterweight prospect Omar Aguilar (18-0, 17 KOs) stopped Dante Jardon (32-7, 23 KOs) 55 seconds into their scheduled 10-round bout.
Aguilar had stunned Jardon with a short series of explosive punches when Castanon, also working this fight, ended the action. Some might suggest that the stoppage was premature. Go figure.
And 19-year-old prospect Alan Picasso (14-1, 5 KOs) defeated Florentino Hernandez (14-6-2, 9 KOs) by a unanimous decision in an eight-round junior featherweight bout. For some reason, Mexican officials used six judges, three on site and three remote. All the judges awarded Picasso a wide decision.