Roman Now Mandatory To Miguel Berchelt, Who Hunts For Foe

By Miguel Rivera

World Boxing Council President Mauricio Sulaiman has revealed that dangerous puncher Miguel Roman is now officially the mandatory challenger to WBC super featherweight champion Miguel Berchelt.

The mandatory challenger in line was former world champion Orlando Salido, but last month Roman changed things when he knocked out Salido in the ninth round of their HBO televised fight in Las Vegas.

Berchelt is scheduled to return to the ring on February 10 in Cancun, Mexico.

Berchelt was scheduled to return against former world champion Cristian Mijares - but things have now changed.

As BoxingScene.om reported a few days ago,  Miajres' handlers made some last minute requests regarding the fight and they created problems with Berchelt's handlers.

On Tuesday, it was announced that Berchelt's return would be moving from Plaza de Toros to the Oasis Arena Cancun, and Mijares was no longer being mentioned as the opponent by the event promoters.

"Micky Román is the official challenger, he has already been sent a letter. He is the official challenger and when the time comes for the mandatory deadline, he will fight with the champion, maybe in July, which is the deadline date of the mandatory," Sulaiman said.

Sulaiman has no idea as to what took place with the negotiations that broke apart the Mijares contest.

"What a pity because there was very good expectation in that fight, it was a rivalry between Mexicans, and the plan was undone. Berchelt defends on February 10, and tomorrow (Wednesday) they are going to make the official announcement regarding the event. As an organization, we have to give our support," Sulaiman added.

He highlighted the trajectory of Mijares, who was the WBC super flyweight champion and who had three fights last year "with a lot of sacrifice."

"This was a great opportunity, a final chance to see if he still had what it takes to box at that level. I don't know where the ball was dropped and what happened, but surely it was during the negotiations between the promoters and it came to this," Sulaiman said.