By Dan Ambrose: Edger Berlanga kept his 16 consecutive first-round knockout streaks alive last Saturday night in stopping Ulises Sierra in the 1st in ‘The Bubble’ at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The powerful 23-year-old super middleweight contender Berlanga chased the defensive-minded Sierra (15-2-2, 9 KOs) around the ring for the first two minutes of action before catching up to him to drop him three times to preserve his knockout streak.
After the third knockdown, Sierra looked out of it on the canvas, and the referee Russell Mora stepped in to halt the fight. The time of the stoppage was at 2:40 of the first.
Berlanga’s opponents just trying to survive
It’s going to be more difficult now for Berlanga to continue his first-round knockout streak because his opponents will be on their bike, trying to survive the first round so that they end up as a statistic.
If Sierra is any indication of how Berlanga’s future opponents will be fighting him, it could prove to be impossible to keep his knockout record going.
Berlanga, who appears to be on the express train to superstardom, fought on the undercard of Shakur Stevenson vs. Toka Kahn Clary last Saturday.
If Berlanga keeps his knockout streak going, we may see him headlining his own cards before long rather than being part of the undercard for less popular fighters that Top Rank is trying hard to turn into stars.
The power that Berlanga showed in knocking out the 31-year-old Sierra was devastating, as everything he threw had knockout written all over it. Even Berlanga’s jabs are like jolting power punches.
Sierra wanted no part of getting hit by him after getting tagged by a hard left hook in the opening seconds of the fight.
Ali Raymi holds the knockout record
Berlanga has a little ways to go before he equals the record of first-round knockouts, which is currently held by the late light flyweight Ali Raymi (25-0, 25 KOs), who knocked out his first 21 opponents in the first round.
The opposition the Raymi fought was less the best, but he still has the record of 21 straight knockouts.
The hard-hitting Berlanga needs four more first-round knockouts to tie Raymi, and that’s going to be difficult for him to achieve given the need for him to start stepping it up against better opposition.
Berlanga says he’ll be facing some top super-middleweights in 2021. According to Max Kellerman, Berlanga wants to fight former WBO junior middleweight champion Jaime Munguia (36-0, 29.
That might be a difficult fight for Top Rank to put together, though, as Munguia, 24, is with Golden Boy Promotions, and they’re grooming for a world title shot at 160. Munguia just moved up to 160 from 154 last year, and he’s not ready to go up to 168 to take on a devastating puncher like Berlanga yet.
Berlanga wants Canelo and Munguia
“Edgar is a superstar, plain and simple. We will definitely step him up in 2021 and we are targeting Canelo in late 2022. By then, it will be the biggest fight in boxing,” said Berlanga’s manager Keith Connolly to @MikeCoppinger.
Berlanga just mentioned Canelo and Munguia. Canelo is his dream fight. The next great Mexican-Puerto Rican matchup, if Berlanga keeps winning. But on the way to Canelo, how about Munguia — another Mexican power puncher in a fight that guarantees fireworks
— Max Kellerman (@maxkellerman) December 13, 2020
Getting Canelo to agree to fight Berlanga in 2022 sounds like wishful thinking on Connolly’s part, and it doesn’t seem like a realistic goal.
If Berlanga continues to knockout guys the way he’s been doing, it’s unlikely that Canelo will ever fight him. Canelo hasn’t fought David Benavidez, Artur Beterbiev, Caleb Plant, or Dimitry Bivol. Likewise, Canelo didn’t fight Golovkin until he turned 36.