With WBC super featherweight champion Miguel Berchelt out with a hand injury, the World Boxing Council are planning to make a decision on a rematch between former WBC champion Francisco Vargas and Orlando Salido (44-13-4, 31 KOs).
Before suffering a hand injury, the 25-year-old Berchelt was supposed to defend his WBC title against Salido. The injury has wiped that fight out. But in the meantime, #1 WBC Salido and #3 WBC Vargas are interested in fighting each other. Vargas vs. Salido might be an even more interesting fight for the boxing fans to see than a match between Berchelt and Salido. Vargas is more of a slugger than Berchelt.
Salido, 36, fought to a 12 round draw against Vargas, 32, last year on June 6 at the StubHub Center in Carson, California. The judges scored the bout 115-113 for Vargas, 114-114 and 114-114. Boxing News 24 scored the fight to Salido by 9 rounds to 3. Vargas was outworked and out-landed in that fight. The scoring was unusual for that fight, because the judges seemed to be more impressed with Vargas’ lighter, and fewer punches landed than Salido’s heavier and more numerous shots.
Salido, 36, was really looking forward to the Berchelt fight. That would have been a great contest. It makes sense for the WBC to assign Berchelt the WBC Emeritus tag if he’s going to be outside of the ring for a long period of time. If Salido could fight Francisco Vargas for the WBC super featherweight title in the meantime, it would be a great fight. With the Emeritus tag, Berchelt could always come back later on and fight the winner of the Salido vs. Vargas rematch.
“We are waiting for an official petition from the promoters. They are considering the rematch of Vargas VS Salido. Their first match was Fight of the year and a tremendous contest,” said WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman to wbcboxing.com. ”Once we receive a formal petition we can address it, and make an announcement. We have requested Miguel Berchelt to provide a medical certificate in order to assess how long it’ll be before he can return to the ring.”
Berchelt captured the WBC 130 lb. title earlier this year in beating him by an 11th round knockout based on cuts on January 28 at the Fantasy Springs Casino in Indio, California. Berchelt was getting the better of Vargas in that fight. Vargas was cut several times in the fight and he was a bloody mess by the time the fight was finally stopped.
Berchelt defended his WBC title successfully last summer in defeating the hard hitting former super featherweight champion Takashi Miura by a 12 round unanimous decision in a competitive fight. The results were one-sided in terms of scoring with the judges scoring it 120-107, 119-108 and 116-111.