Miguel Berchelt Feels ‘Better, Stronger’ At Lightweight

Miguel Berchelt is making his return.

And he’s doing so on Saturday in his lightweight debut against Jeremiah Nakathila in a 10-round main event in Las Vegas. Berchelt is coming off a devastating knockout loss to Oscar Valdez in February 2021, but he assured that he’s prepared to bounce back from that.

“I feel better. I feel stronger. I think my body needed to move up in weight. I was a world champion for four years. Now I’m coming for the victory this Saturday,” Berchelt said.

“I’m very focused and prepared for what I want to do this Saturday. I want to win this Saturday and make it so that the name of Miguel Berchelt is considered among the top of the division. They definitely will have to take me into account, and I will show that this Saturday.”

Nakathila, meanwhile, is 1-1 in his last two fights. He defeated Ndodana Ncube via TKO in October. But before that, he was edged by Shakur Stevenson, who took home the WBO interim super featherweight title.

Stevenson is set to face Oscar Valdez, who claimed Berchelt’s WBC world super featherweight title, in a unification title fight.

Nakathila is also moving up in weight.

“I feel much stronger at lightweight. It was a good decision to move to lightweight. It was a lot easier to make weight compared to junior lightweight,” Nakathila said.

The event will kick off at 10 p.m. ET.