By Brian Webber: Edgar Berlanga (21-0, 16 KOs) struggled through most of his fight against Jason Quigley (20-3, 14 KOs), but his power came through in the end for him to score two knockdowns in the twelfth to finish strong with a twelve round unanimous decision on Saturday night at Madison SSquare Garden in New York.
It wasn’t always pretty, as Berlanga was frequently missing with his punches and getting countered by the smaller, faster, and more skilled Irish fighter Quigley, but he was still able to drop him in rounds three, five, and twice in the twelfth.
The referee had a REALLY bad night, as he blew the call in round five and the second knockdown in the twelfth, giving Berlanga creditor two knockdowns that shouldn’t have been.
Quigley tripped in round five and was pushed down in the twelfth by Berlanga on the second knockdown. Berlanga scored two real knockdowns in the fight, with the other two being blown calls by the referee. In the big scheme of things, it didn’t matter because Berlanga still would have won.
Judges’ scores:
- 116-108
- 116-108
- 118-106
Berlanga failed to get a knockout in his fifth consecutive fight, which is bad news for him earning the Canelo Alvarez. Quigley had been knocked out in two rounds by Demetrius Andrade in 2021.
Quigley was moving & countering Berlanga all night, taking advantage of his slow hand speed and wild swings.
The only time Berlang had success is when Quigley would back up against the ropes and try and counter from that spot. That was how Quigley got dropped in the third and the twelfth. Berlanga hurt him by chopping right hands to the head, which put him down.
If Quigley had stayed in the center of the ring, he would have made it out of the fight without getting dropped.
After the fight was over, Berlanga called out Jaime Munguia, a fighter promoted by Golden Boy Promotions. It’ll be interesting if that match comes off because Munguia is promoted by Oscar De La Hoya, and he’ not on good terms with Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn.
