Awuku takes a beating - World title dream crashes in Round 3

Ghana’s Maxwell Awuku’s bid to become a World Boxing Council (WBC) superfeatherweight champion ended in disappointment as the title holder, Miguel Berchelt stopped him in the third round in their fight at the Oasis Arena in Cancun, Quintana Roo, Mexico last Saturday night.

Refereee Hector Afu stopped the fight  after Berchelt (33-1, 29 KOs) made easy work of the replacement opponent, Awuku (44-4-1, 30 KOs), by flattening the Ghanaian twice in the third round, before finishing the job after the second knockdown after connecting with several hard shots.

Awuku was still upright when referee Hector Afu stopped the fight. However, if Referee Afu had waited a moment longer before stopping the fight, Berchelt would have knocked Awuku down for a third time. The fight was stopped at 2:46 of round three.

Knockdown No.1 in the 3rd round came from a right hand from Berchelt that put Awuku down on his backside. Moments before that, Berchelt had hurt Awuku with 2 hard shots to the head.

Awuku had talent for shots, but his legs looked wobbly, Berchelt then put Awuku down with the next right. The southpaw Awuku landed some shots in all 3 rounds. Awuku was catching Berchelt, 26, coming in and backing away. The punches weren’t hard enough to hurt Berchelt. That was the problem. Awuku didn’t have the power to keep Berchelt off of him or make him pay when he would come forward to land his punches.

”I feel very happy and satisfied,” Berchelt said after the fight via Fight News. ”This is a very special night for me. I fulfilled a dream I had as a child. I didn’t feel a punch and from the first knockdown, knew I would knock him out,” Berchelt said.