Miguel Berchelt and Oscar Valdez cleared the final hurdle before their fight Saturday at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas (ESPN).
Berchelt, who will be defending his WBC junior lightweight title, and No. 1-ranked Valdez weighed in at the division limit of 130 pounds on Friday afternoon.
The Mexicans were scheduled to meet in December but the bout was postponed after Berchelt tested positive for COVID-19.
Berchelt (37-1, 33 KOs) is about a 3½ favorite but that means nothing to him.
“I’m not going to step into the ring feeling that way,” he said through a translator. “All I know is I’m going to go in there and give everything. More important, you’ll see all the hard work I put in in gym.
“We’re going to come way with the huge victory.”
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Valdez (28-0, 22 KOs) said his mental toughness will be the difference in the fight.
“I prepared myself 100 percent for this,” he said. “I seriously doubt he trained harder than me. … [And] I’ve been tested before. I fought with an injured rib, a broken jaw, and I’ve been sent to the canvas several times. And I always fight through it.
“So there’s nothing I haven’t seen.”
Berchelt will be making the seventh defense of the belt he won by stopping Francisco Vargas in the 11th round of a classic brawl in January 2017.
The 29-year-old, a terrific boxer who can also end any fight in an instant, has stopped his past five official opponents.
He was last in the ring this past June, when he knocked out Eleazar Valenzuela in six rounds in Mexico City. However, the fight wasn’t sanctioned as a result of coronavirus restrictions. Thus, the result is not recognized.
Valdez, a 30-year-old who lives in the Los Angeles area, is a former 126-pound beltholder who will be fighting for a 130-pound title for the first time.
He’s coming off a solid performance against Jayson Velez this past July, putting the Puerto Rican veteran down three times and stopping him in the 10th and final round. That was his second fight at 130 pounds.
Valdez has been training alongside Canelo Alvarez in the camp of Eddy Reynoso.
On the undercard, junior lightweight prospect Gabriel Flores (19-0, 6 KOs) of Stockton, Calif., will face Puerto Rican Jayson Velez () in a scheduled 10-round bout.
Flores and Velez both weighed 132 pounds.