"All the top guys are just chatting and not fighting each other" - Darren Till slams the sport of boxing
UFC middleweight Darren Till had some harsh words for the sport of boxing on Twitter. The inactivity of boxers, especially in the lightweight division, appears to have frustrated the 'Gorilla'.
The WBC junior lightweight championship is on the line tonight and Darren Till has been keenly following the fight card on ESPN. Miguel Berchelt and Oscar Valdez are fighting in the main event of a Top Rank on ESPN boxing card tonight.
Commenting on the current boxing landscape, Darren Till opined that Top-ranked boxers are not fighting as frequently as they should. Till also praised fellow Brit and UFC heavyweight Tom Aspinall on his victory against Andrei Arlovski at UFC Vegas 19.
Darren Till's argument cannot be repudiated. The WBO, IBF and WBA lightweight straps were unified by Teofimo Lopez Jr. in October last year when he defeated Vasyl Lomachenko. The WBC (World Boxing Council) lightweight title is held by Devin Haney at the moment.
There were rumours that Devin Haney will be defending the his lightweight belt against boxing's rising superstar Ryan Garcia. However, earlier this year Haney mentioned that the interim lightweight champion is not on his radar. Instead, Haney claimed that he wants to unify the lightweight championships by defeating Teofimo Lopez next.
Ryan Garcia, on the other hand, was purportedly going to fight boxing legend Manny Pacquiao. Garcia had even unveiled the poster for the rumored bout on his Instagram. However, there has been no confirmation from either camps in this regard.
After defeating Luke Campbell in January 2021, Ryan Garcia immediately called out Gervonta 'Tank' Davis. Davis is currently the WBA "regular" lightweight champion and holds the WBA Junior lightweight title as well. It looks like Darren Till is correct in his criticism of the lightweight division picture as none of these fights have come to fruition.
Who are the fighter fighting in the main event tonight?
Junior lightweights Miguel Berchelt and Oscar Valdez will be clashing in the main event tonight's Top Rank boxing card. Berchelt captured the lightweight strap in 2017 when he defeated Francisco Vargas via knockout. In a span of four years, the Mexican warrior has defended his championship six times.
At just 29 years old, Berchelt holds a record of 37-1 with 33 of his victories coming by way of knockout. Meanwhile, his opponent tonight, Oscar Valdez, is an undefeated boxer with 28 victories on his resume. After six consecutive title defenses, Valdez decided to move up a weight class.