Ernesto Mercado vs Juan Carlos Burgos Preview January 20h, 2026
Veteran Juan Carlos Burgos of Mexico returns to the ring this Friday, June 19th to take on unbeaten Ernesto Mercado of Upland, California. The 10-round junior welterweight tilt from Long Beach, California can be seen live in most nations on DAZN. Burgos last fought in April, 2025 when he stopped Rodolfo Hernandez Montoya in the second round while Mercado last fought in December when he halted Antonio Moran in the sixth round for the WBO International Junior Welterweight Title. For Burgos it was his first fight in almost two years as he hadn’t fought since July, 2023 when he dropped a 10-round unanimous decision to Andy Cruz in Cruz’s pro debut.
Mercado vs Burgos Betting Odds
Here are the betting odds from online sportsbook BetOnline.ag (full review here).
- Juan Carlos Burgos +2000
- Ernesto Mercado – 25000
My Pick
The 24-year-old Mercado enters the ring with a perfect record of 18-0 with 17 Ko’s and has fought just 55 rounds since making his pro debut in July, 2021. Mercado enjoyed an extensive amateur career which saw him win the 2018 USA Youth National Championships, the 2018 USA Eastern Regional Youth Open and the 2018 USA Youth Golden Gloves Final. He also captured the 2016 USA Junior Open Final. Mercado was runner-up in the 2020 U.S. Olympic Team Trials and was an alternate for the 2021 Games in Tokyo, Japan.
Power has been the name of the game so far for Mercado in the pro ranks as he’s stopped 17 of his 18 opponents for a highly-impressive knockout ratio of 94.4 per cent. The only man to go the distance with him has been veteran Xolisani Ndongeni, who went 10 rounds in a unanimous decision defeat in July, 2023. Mercado has six stoppages in the first round, five in the second, two in the third and sixth rounds and one in the fourth and seventh round. These include wins over Jeremia Nakathila, Deiner Berrio, Hank Lundy, Jose Angulo, Jayson Velez and former world champion Jose Pedraza.
Mercado stopped Velez in the sixth round in October, 2022 to win the vacant NABF Super Lightweight Title and defended it against Lundy and Angulo. He measures 5-feet-10-inches tall but unfortunately has an unlisted reach. Mercado now fights out of Pomona, California. He’s already fought some solid pros but and took a step up in class against Pedraza in January, 2025 and stopped him in the fourth round.
Burgos is now 38 years old and climbs through the ring ropes with a mark of 36-8-3 with 22 Ko’s. He turned pro back in 2004 and has 321 rounds of experience under his belt since. He measures just over 5-feet-9-inches tall with a 68.5-inch and isn’t really known as a heavy hitter either but does possess decent power in his fists as 61.1 per cent of his wins have come by stoppage. He’s won just three of his past 10 contests with six losses and a draw and has stopped just one opponent since 2016.
Burgos has had three world title shots in his career but he was beaten by Hozumi Hasegawa via a unanimous decision in 2010 in Japan for the vacant WBC Featherweight Title then took on Roman Martinez in 2013 and managed a split decision draw in a shot at the WBO Super Featherweight Crown. He had another shot at the WBO Super Featherweight Belt in 2014 but lost a unanimous decision to Mikey Garcia. Since turning pro, Burgos has won the WBC Super Silver Featherweight Title and the WBO Latino Super Featherweight Title.
His other defeats came at the hands of Devin Haney by 12-round unanimous decision for the vacant IBF North American Lightweight Title in 2018; to Hector Tanajara by 10-round unanimous decision for the WBC United States Lightweight Crown in 2020; to Xavier Martinez and Stirling Castillo by 10-round unanimous decisions in 2021;to Keyshawn Davis by eight-round unanimous decision in 2022 for the vacant WBO Inter-Continental Lightweight Belt and the loss to Andy Cruz in 2023. His other draws were with Yakubu Amidu over 12 rounds in 2013 and over 10 rounds with Angel Fierro in March, 2022.
Burgos has beaten some solid boxers during his career with wins over the likes of Vyacheslav Gusev, Ricardo Castillo, Frankie Archuleta, Luis Cruz, Cristobal Cruz and Cesar Vazquez but has fallen short when stepping up in class. Burgos has decent power, quick hands a very solid chin and is quite mobile in the ring, but he’s going to be facing a boxer who’s 14 years his junior and it’s definitely not going to be easy.
Prediction…
There isn’t really a weak side to Mercado’s game as his power and boxing skills have simply been too much for most of his opponents so far. Burgos is a solid pro and former world title challenger who has never been stopped but he can’t match Mercado in any area at this stage of his career. I’m expecting Mercado to earn another win here and he could become the first pro boxer to stop Burgos. Still, the odds are a bit too wide for Mercado
Mercado has the edge in power and is 14 years younger.
Play Mercado -25000 @ BetOnline.ag
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Ernesto Mercado betting • Juan Carlos Burgos betting