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Mike CoppingerESPN
Miguel Berchelt and Jeremiah Nakathila have agreed to a deal for a March 26 lightweight fight, sources told ESPN.
The bout will headline Top Rank Boxing on ESPN at a location to be determined, sources said.
Berchelt (38-2, 34 KOs) will now campaign at 135 pounds after he lost his 130-pound title to Oscar Valdez, a brutal KO in February 2021. The 30-year-old Mexican hasn’t competed since.
His return bout comes against Nakathila, an unheralded fighter from Namibia who dropped a unanimous decision to Shakur Stevenson in June. Nakathila (22-2, 18 KOs) was floored in Round 4 of his U.S., debut and lost every round on all three judges’ scorecards.
The 32-year-old returned to the ring with a victory in an October fight in Namibia, the site of all but one of his fights.
Berchelt made eight successful defenses of his junior lightweight title before the 10th-round KO against Valdez.