By Mark Eisner: Uneaten super middleweight contender Edgar Berlanga (21-0, 16 KOs) dropped Jason Quigley (20-3, 14 KOs) four times fights en route to winning a wide twelve round unanimous decision on Saturday night at the Hula Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York.
The scores were 116-108, 116-108, and 118-106. Berlanga dropped Berlanga down in rounds three, five, and twice in the twelfth. The referee blew a call by giving Berlanga credit for pushing Quigley down for one of the knockdowns.
After the fight, Berlanga said he wanted Jaime Munguia next. His promoter Eddie Hearn mentioned Munguia and Gennadiy Golovkin.
Undercard results
- Heavyweight Joe Cusumano (22-4, 20 KOs) kept his career alive with a eighth round knockout over fringe contender Adam Kownacki (20-4, 15 KOs). The ringside physician had the contest halted after Cusumano hurt the 34-year-old Kownacki with a hand to the head. Kownacki was out on his feet and taking huge shots at the time of the stoppage. In the first round, Cusumano dropped Kownacki with a hand to the head but couldn’t finish him. In the seventh, the referee was close to stopping the fight after Cusumano hurt the exhausted-looking Kownacki. The time of the stoppage was at 2:00 of round eight.
- Unbeaten light welterweight Rashat Mati (14-0, 8 KOs) stayed unbeaten with a ninth round referee’s stoppage of the tough Dakota Linger (13-6-3, 9 KOs). Referee Arthur Mercante Jr stepped in and halted the fight in the ninth due to the 28-year-old Linger getting hit repeatedly by shots from Mati. The time of the stoppage was at 0:59 of round nine. Mati injured his left hand earlier in the fight, which caused him to get on his bike and run around the ring for most of the contest. It wasn’t pretty to watch, and it kept him from getting knocked out. The referee allowed Mati to repeatedly push off and shoulder Linger the entire contest without warning or penalizing. The pushing off was incessant by Mati and should have resulted in him being warned by this experienced referee, but he was okay with it. The way Mati looked, he’s got to make a lot of improvements for him to have a shot at beating any of the champions at 140. Linger made it exciting to watch due to his pressure. It’s too bad Mati chose to move so much and push off the way he did.
- 2020 Olympian Yankiel Rivera (4-0, 2 KOs), fighting at flyweight, beat Christian Robles (8-1, 3 KOs) by a competitive eight round unanimous decision. The scores were 79-72, 78-73, and 77-74. Robles was down in round four.
- Undefeated light heavyweight prospect Khalil Coe (6-0-1, 4 KOs) defeated previously unbeaten Canadian Buneet Bisla (7-1, 3 KOs) by a seventh round stoppage. The referee decided he’d seen enough and halted the fight. Coe dropped the 25-year-old Bisla.
Edgar Berlanga fights tonight in his debut with Matchroom against Jason Quigley at the 5,600-seat Hula Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The main portion of the Berlanga vs. Quigley card will be shown live on DAZN at 8:00 p.m. ET.
The unbeaten super middleweight top 15-ranked contender Berlanga (20-0, 16 KOs) needs to keep it together mentally, not come unglued, and resort to biting Quigley (20-2, 14 KOs) if things aren’t going his way tonight.
On paper, this should be a pure wipeout for Berlanga, as Quigley is small for the 168-lb division and lacks the power to hold back the much bigger & stronger New Yorker.
We saw Berlanga come unhinged in his last fight against 39-year-old Roamer Alexis Angulo, who he bit on the neck last year in frustration.
Promoter Eddie Hearn will see if he made the right decision in inking Berlanga to his Matchroom Boxing stable or if this is another bad choice by him, like his recent signing of WBC 140-lb champion Regis Prograis, who looked dreadful last weekend against fringe-level fighter Danielito Zorrilla.
Berlanga needs an early knockout
“Quigley does have a win over Shane Mosley Jr, and that win has aged pretty well over the last couple of years as Mosley has risen in the super middleweight division. Again, you’re talking about generally smaller guys,” said Chris Mannix to DAZN’s JABS, previewing tonight’s clash between Edgar Berlanga and Jason Quigley.
“When these two guys look at each other at that moment before the opening bell, there is going to be a big size difference, and if we know anything about Edgar Berlanga, he has a lot of power in that right hand.
“I’m not sure how Quigley, who couldn’t keep Demetrius Andrade off him, will keep Berlanga off him. If Berlanga starts getting counter-shotted, if Berlanga looks a bit tentative and a little uncertain, then I think we have a problem now.
“I like what Edgar Berlanga has done over the last few months. He returned to his former trainer, the guy who brought him into the pro ranks, and I think that’s a good move. That’s some familiarity there.
“All the people I talked to around Edgar Berlanga say that has made him and that will make him a better fighter. But, Sergio, Edgar Berlanga wants big fish. Edgar Berlanga still wants a fight with Canelo Alvarez when this fight’s over.
“If Berlanga wins, we’ll discuss Berlanga against Jaime Munguia. To get those fights and to be competitive in those fights, he’s got to look great against Jason Quigley, and if he doesn’t,
it’s just going to be a problem,” said Mannix.
“You don’t have to knock out a fighter early to look great. Berlanga could still look great by going some rounds, maybe even getting a late-round knockout and having some moments of struggling. That’s what will make him better, not these first-round knockouts,” said Sergio Mora.
“Let me ask you this. Why don’t you look at what Demetrius Andrade did as an example,” said Mannix. “Demetrius Andrade knew going into that fight that if he messed around and played with his food when it came to Jason Quigley, he would get killed for it.”
Berlanga vs. Quigley prediction
This writer’s prediction for tonight is an early knockout for Berlanga against the outgunned Quigley. Berlanga will get to the 32-year-old Quigley by the fifth round to score a stoppage.
Quigley is a good fringe-level middleweight, but he’s too small and underpowered for the 168-lb division. Hence, he’s been chosen by Eddie Hearn to make Berlanga look good after being out of the ring for an entire year.
“He knew he had to go out there and look spectacular. That’s exactly what Andrade did. Andrade walked right through Jason Quigley. Why are you not buying into the idea that Edgar Berlanga should do the same thing?”
“I think I think Andrade surprised Quigley,” said Mora. “We know that Andrade’s not a knockout puncher. He’s not a fast starter, and I think he surprised Quigley with that.”
“He broke his jaw too,” said Mannix.
“That was surprising, and he hit him with a good shot that tweaked his jaw and broke his jaw, so that has a lot to play with,” said Mora. “I think Berlanga will not have that champion [experience]. He doesn’t have that championship experience as Andrade. He’s not a Southpaw, and not as long as him.
“I think with Andrade, you were dealing with a champion. In Berlanga, you’re dealing with someone with a lot of power and a large fanbase. He has had a lot of things going for him, but he’s not on the championship level yet.
“Quigley has fought on the championship level. So, I think experience is going to play a factor. I don’t think he [Quigley] wins, but I also don’t think he’s going to get knocked out like you think he is. I think he’s going to be a competitive fighter,” said Mora.
“You say that he [Quigley] fought at the championship level, and technically, you’re right, but when he fought the championship level, he got absolutely wrecked in that fight [against Andrade]. That’s all I’m saying,” said Mannix.
“If Demetrius Andrade is going to walk right through you in the way that he did, I got to expect Edgar Berlanga to do it. If he doesn’t do it, I think there’ll be a lot of people that have a problem with that.”
“It’s experience. It’s not always pretty, but losses on the championship level against top guys make you a better fighter, especially against the Berlangas of the world. The guys that aren’t there yet at the championship level, but they have a lot of momentum going their way, and Quigley is the spoiler that can actually test them to see if they’re ready for that,” said Mora.
“There you have it. Jason Quigley, spoiler, according to Sergio Mora,” said Mannix.