By Allan Fox: Edgar Berlanga vs. Daniel Jacobs is in play for June 10th in New York. This would be the first fight for the unbeaten super middleweight contender Berlanga (20-0, 16 KOs) with his new promoters at Matchroom, who are ramping up the former Top Rank fighter towards a big payday clash against Canelo Alvarez next year.
Thaboxingvoice reports the news of the 24-year-old Berlanga potentially facing the 36-year-old former IBF/WBA middleweight champion Jacobs (37-4, 30 KOs).
If Jacobs has anything left in the tank after his long career, he beats Berlanga. Given Jacobs’ gas tank issues, he should go all out in the first six rounds to try and bang Berlanga out before he fades in the second half.
According to Eddie Hearn, Berlanga must put together at least two or three solid wins over quality opposition to show he deserves a Canelo fight. I’m not sure Hearn had Jacobs in mind when discussing Berlanga proving himself.
If so, that would seem to indicate that Hearn wants to make sure that Berlanga makes it to the Canelo fight for a big payday before jettisoning him. Canelo will embarrass Berlanga, as would any of the top contenders in the division.
Some boxing fans believe Hearn won’t put Berlanga in with any good contenders because then he won’t make his money back from the contract he gave him to sign with Matchroom.
Berlanga was recently bragging about the huge “bag” he was given by Hearn to sign with Matchroom. Depending on how much Berlanga’s contract is with Hearn, he can’t afford to be put in with fighters much better than the past his prime Jacobs because he’ll get beaten, and that’ll ruin things for Matchroom.
They’ll be stuck with a useless albatross and won’t be able to do anything with him other than to match him against the same type of fodder opposition that his former promoters at Top Rank had been feeding him for the last seven years since he turned pro in 2016.
When you see a fighter like David Benavidez having to jump through hoops for years and still not getting a fight against Canelo, it’s hard to see Berlanga as being worthy of a payday against the Mexican star unless he beats these types of fighters at 168:
- David Morrell
- Caleb Plant
- David Benavidez
- Demetrius Andrade
- Diego Pacheco
Having seen Berlanga fight many times, this writer doesn’t believe he can ever beat any of those fighters because he lacks inherent talent.
Those guys are light years better than Berlanga, and it’s not just a development thing. Those guys were arguably born with more ability than Berlanga, and it’s not something that can change with more work by the New Yorker.
You hate to say it, but Jacobs is pretty well shot at this stage of his career, and his loss in his last fight against John Ryder proved that. That was a year ago in February in London. Jacobs gassed out after six rounds, and was dominated by the better-conditioned Ryder in the last six rounds.
What’s unclear is if this fight will prove to Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn that Berlanga has proven himself worthy of sharing the ring with the superstar Canelo because he’s mentioned many times that before he’d make that match-up, Edgar will need to beat world level opposition.
Jacobs is ranked #5 WBC at super middleweight, but that’s the only sanctioning body that has him ranked in the top 15. When you look at Jacob’s resume in the last four years, it’s easy to see why the sanctioning bodies have chosen not to rank him because he’s beaten no one other than journeyman Gabe Rosado by a controversial 12 round split decision in 2020, and a demotivated Julio Chavez Jr in 2019.