Lightweight Jeremiah Nakathila. Photo from Jeremiah Nakathila’s Instagram
Big-punching Jeremiah Nakathila gave former junior lightweight titlist Miguel Berchelt a beatdown for six rounds last March. The Namibian hoped that would be the springboard to even bigger fights in the white-hot lightweight division.
Unfortunately the 33-year-old African wasn’t able to capitalize on his career-best win and was left outside looking in.
“I’m a bit disappointed that I have not been in the ring since defeating Berchelt but I also understand that things in the lightweight division are a bit tense right now,” Nakathila (23-2, 19 knockouts) told The Ring. “We had to wait for [Devin] Haney [and George] Kambosos to fight twice.
“I would have liked to step in the ring against [Isaac] ‘Pitbull’ [Cruz] in the meantime to take care of business but that didn’t materialize but I’m hoping to be back in the ring in the first quarter of this year.”
Rising young fighter Raymond Muratalla (16-0, 13 KOs) recently mentioned Nakathila. While it’s not the high-profile fight Nakathila is looking for, he admits it could help him get something bigger.
“I heard Raymond calling me out and I must admit that was very brave of him to do that,” he said. “Sometimes these guys just mention your name to give themselves relevance and make the news but they have no intention to fight you.
“I’m ready for Raymond and [will] give him a boxing lesson that he will never forget. Once I am done with him, I can hopefully move onto bigger fights against the likes of Cruz, Kambosos, Haney, [Vasiliy] ‘Loma[chenko]’ and [Gervonta] ‘Tank’ Davis.”
Nakathila’s handler Nestor Tobias has a good relationship with Top Rank, having previously twice worked with the powerhouse promoter, and hopes to precure something soon for his hungry fighter.
“[We are] thankful that Nakathila had two big fights versus [Shakur] Stevenson and Berchelt [on Top Rank shows],” said Tobias. “We are constantly in talks with Top Rank and are positive that they can make anything happen and we can hopefully make a big announcement soon on Nakathila’s next fight – so stay tuned.”
MORE ON RINGTV:
Jeremiah Nakathila says Berchelt upset has scared opponents at 135 pounds – The Ring (ringtv.com)
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