By Dan Ambrose: Edgar Berlanga has a fight being planned for early April to get him ready for a step-up match in June for the Puerto Rican Day weekend in New York.
Boxing fans want to see Berlanga facing better opposition than the fighters that his promoters at Top Rank have been feeding him since he turned professional in 2016.
Berlanga’s last fight against Ulises Sierra (15-2-2, 9 KOs) on December 12th was supposed to be a minor step-up, but it was more of the same.
Mike Coppinger is the first on the news of the 23-year-old Berlanga’s April fight. He was told by Berlanga’s manager Keith Connolly.
Berlanga going for 17th consecutive knockout
The unbeaten super middleweight contender Berlanga has stopped his first 16 opponents of his career in the first round, and he’s five away from tieing the record of 21 straight stoppages for a fighter starting their career.
Unfortunately, #6 WBA, #9 WBO Berlanga’s April fight won’t be the step up that the fans wanted, as he’s not getting much of a chance to develop with the kind of opposition that he’s been matched against.
At 23, Berlanga is the same age as Teofimo Lopez, who recently defeated Vasily Lomachenko to become the undisputed lightweight champion. Top Rank must have some unease about letting Berlanga fight a contender.
If they’re going to give Berlanga his first step-up in June, they might as well move that schedule ahead one fight by letting him face a bottom feeder level contender at 168. Putting Berlanga in with another tomato can helps him.
With Canelo Alvarez now fighting at 168, it’s important that Berlanga start fighting contenders as soon as possible. There’s no way of knowing how much longer Canelo will be fighting at super middleweight before he bulks up and moves to 175.
Excellent options for Berlanga’s April fight
If Top Rank promoter Bob Arum is willing to let Berlanga fight someone with a pulse in April, these would be excellent options for him:
- Julio Cesar Chavez Jr
- Gabriel Rosado
- Daniel Jacobs
- Rocky Fielding
- Ali Akhmedov
- Vladimir Shishkin
- Fedor Chudinov
- David Lemieux
- Callum Smith
I threw in Rosado, Jacobs, and Callum because those guys are on the downside of their carers, and very beatable. Jacobs used to be a good fighter, but he’s a shell of what he once was after his grueling fights against Gennady Golovkin, Sergiy Derevyanchenko, and Canelo Alvarez.
What we don’t know about Berlanga is how he’ll react when getting his back for the first time in his career. Up until now, Berlanga has been bowling his opposition right away in the first round without getting more than a small hand full of times.
If Berlanga gets in there with someone that can take his power for more than one round, will he fall apart when he starts taking shots?
We need to find that out, and Top Rank has got to STOP putting Berlanga in with cream puffs because he’s not going to become a star that way.
This is 2021, fans don’t fall for the old tied and true method of using the backdoor method to create a star by matching fighters against second and third-tier opposition to make them look great.
“Keith Connolly tells The Athletic he’s in discussions with Top Rank regarding the return of Edgar Berlanga, who has 16 first-round KOs in 16 fights.
“Fight being eyed for early April with a true step-up bout in June on Puerto Rican Day Parade Weekend in New York,” said @MikeCoppinger.