By Mark Eisner: Super middleweight contender Edgar Berlanga (17-0, 16 KOs) went the full eight-round distance on Saturday night in defeating Demond Nicholson (23-4, 20 KOs) by a unanimous decision in a Top Rank promoted card on ESPN at the Silver Spurs Arena in Kissimmee, Florida.
Berlanga’s heavy hands were in full display tonight, as he dropped Nicholson in rounds 2, 3, 5, and 8. Try as he might, the 23-year-old Berlanga couldn’t finish the job.
Nicholson was clever and knew how to make it out of the rounds where he was hurt. Berlanga ran out of gas after the sixth round, but he took some shots from Nicholson in the seventh and eighth. Late in the 8th, Berlanga dropped an overly aggressive Nicholson to finish strong.
Nicholson did a good job of landing nice punches on the inside and taking advantage of Berlanga’s lack of defense.
The judges scored 79-68, 79-69, and 79-69. Boxing News 24 scored the contest 79-68.
Overall, it was a decent performance by Berlanga, but far from great. What we saw of him tonight, he would have BIG problems if he fought an experienced 168-lb fighter like David Benavidez, Caleb Plant, Canelo Alvarez, Billy Joe Saunders.
Top Rank needs to start matching Berlanga against better opposition. He would have been showing signs of improvement by now if he’d fought guys like Nicholson right away.
The areas where Berlanga needs help:
- Foot movement
- Defense
- Mixing up punches
- Varying attack
- Throwing more body shots
Berlanga was head-hunting the entire fight, and swinging for the fences in hopes that he’d score another knockout. He looked very basic, and it was troubling to watch him gas out. As one person said, Berlanga resembled a weaker version of David Lemieux.
Berlanga lacks the one-punching power that Lemieux has going for him, but he’s as badly flawed as he is in every way.
Top Rank is going to need to take their time with Berlanga, and treat the first 30 to 40 fights as him being in the amateurs because he’s not ready to fight any of the top 10 contenders in the 168-lb division. If they throw Berlanga in with a good top 10 fighters, he’ll lose.
David Benavidez’s last opponent Ronald Ellis would give Berlanga all kinds of problems, and possibly beat him. #2 WBC David Lemieux would be extremely dangerous to Berlanga because he hits harder, and he would take full advantage of his lack of defense to take him apart.
Tonight’s poor showing by Berlanga was predictable because he’s been matched against such horribly weak opposition by Top Rank. It was clear that they were hiding something, and that’s why they’ve been slow in pitting Berlanga against better fighters.