By Huck Allen: Tim Bradley was shocked at how poor unbeaten highly ranked super middleweight contender Edgar Berlanga (19-0, 16 KOs) looked last Saturday night in his flawed performance against Steve Rolls (21-2, 12 KOs) at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Berlanga won a questionable 10 round unanimous decision over the 37-year-old Rolls, who had been stopped in four rounds by the smaller Gennadiy Golovkin.
It was surprising that the 24-year-old Berlanga couldn’t get Rolls out of there in a similar fashion as GGG, given that he’s younger and bigger than him.
The judges scored it 96-94, 97-93, and 97-93. On social media, boxing fans overwhelmingly thought that Rolls had done enough to deserve the win.
Berlanga was plodding forward on slow feet, throwing shots with everything on them, but missing for the most part and eating jabs from Rolls.
Bradley says Berlanga doesn’t have it
“No, and I’m being honest,” said Tim Bradley to Fight Hub TV when asked if Edgar Berlanga is the goods. “I want to give you some context behind that.
“He’s still young. Should I write him off?” Bradley continued about Berlanga. “No, but from what I see from my experience, I’ll tell you this. He went on a tear, 16-0. That was the worst thing that could happen for his career.
“The reason why is because he didn’t get the chance to grow and develop. Maybe I should give him time to grow and develop, but he’s a six-year pro.
“How much longer is it going to take to get to that top-level?” said Bradley about Berlanga. “He’s #6 in the WBO rating. To be ready for the championship level for one of those top dogs.
“He’s getting close to 20 fights, and it’s not about the knockouts. I could care less about that. It’s about how he operates inside that ring. It’s about how tactically he operates.
“For example, he throws the jab at the same speed, at the same pace. He doesn’t even change the levels with that jab. There are little small things that you can do that you’re supposed to know already that he doesn’t know.
“That could be because he knocked out everybody. Now he’s enamored with his punching power,” Bradley said.
Edgar has slow feet
He’s marching forward and he’s slow-footed. The first thing that I would have done is, ‘Hey, we need your feet right.
“We got to get your feet right because your foundation is the most important thing inside that ring, your foundation, your legs. You got to be quick. I’m going to train you like you have no punching power.
“I’m going to get you up on your toes, moving and changing things up because that’s what he needs. He needs to find a way to disguise his power. Why are you leading with the left hook? Why?
“I don’t think he’s a victim of bad matchmaking. The guys that they put in front of him have never been stopped. There are a handful of guys that have never been stopped before, and he found a way to get rid of them. He bodied them up.
“This time around, he fought against a mover. You know you’re fighting against a mover, and you were following him around the ring. Come on, man. You learned how to cut off the ring at the beginning of your childhood when you were an amateur.
“You learned how to cut off the ring at an early age. He was following this man [Rolls] around the ring, never cornering him, never trapping him against the ropes like you should have,” Bradley said.
Berlanga must make changed
“I don’t say this to be disrespectful. I have nothing but love for Edgar, but if he wants to be that star that he says he wants to be as a Puerto Rican guy, he’s going to have to make a lot of changes,” Bradley said.
“It all boils down to him because it seems like he has a good team around him. He has a great team around him that care about him, and they have the young fighters around him that are trying to help him and groom him to enhance his skills.
“Jared Anderson put his hands up on his head and was like, ‘What’s going on? Who is this guy? I don’t know who that guy is,” said Bradley.
