By Charles Brun: Promoter Eddie Hearn is already planning super middleweight contender Edgar Berlanga’s next fight despite his tough opponent Jason Quigley still in front of him this Saturday night at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
Eddie needs to hold his horses because he’s getting way ahead of himself by assuming Berlanga wins on Saturday. We saw how Berlanga went into a mental meltdown in his last fight against Roamer Alexis Angulo, getting so upset that he attempted to bite him when things weren’t going his way.
Hearn views the former amateur star Quigley (20-2, 14 KOs) as a tune-up for Berlanga (20-0, 16 KOs), which could be a mistake on his part because this is a winnable contest for the Irish fighter, who could start in where Edgar’s last opponent Roamer Alexis Angulo left off by giving him grief inside the ring.
The Matchroom Boxing boss Hearn says he wants to pit Berlanga against one of these fighters next for him to prove himself worthy of a mega-fight against Canelo Alvarez:
- Billy Joe Saunders
- John Ryder
- Jaime Munguia
- Gennadiy Golovkin
Fans wouldn’t be excited at seeing Berlanga fight Saunders (30-1, 14 KOs) because he hasn’t fought in two years since he quit on his stool after the eighth round against Canelo. There would be a huge backlash from the boxing public if Berlanga were to fight the 33-year-old Saunders next because that would be viewed as a gimme for him.
Billy Joe is viewed by many as washed and a little more than a former two-division paper champion because he never beat anyone good.
If that’s the guy that Hearn would be using as an opponent that Berlanga must beat to prove himself worthy of fighting Canelo, he should just skip it and go straight into the fight if the New Yorker is successful against Quigley on Saturday.
Is Berlanga ready to step up?
“The theater is a tremendous atmosphere. It’ll be sold out on Saturday. It’s like a mini Taylor-Serrano, but this time, you’re going to have 90% Puerto Rican and 10% for Quigley,” said Eddie Hearn to Ariel Helwani’s podcast, talking about the Edgar Berlanga vs. Jason Quigley fight on Saturday.
“Berlanga, it’s kind of your graduation to the big room. We see a lot of fighters start at the Hula Theater, and as they become bigger, they move into the big arena, and that’s the plan with Edgar.
“Edgar is out-selling all those guys. There’s still a lot of hype around Edgar Berlanga. In his first sixteen fights, he won by first round knockout. The level of opposition got criticized, but that’s never been seen before.
“Now he’s stepping up. We’re calling out Canelo Alvarez; we’re calling out Gennadiy Ggolovkin. So one of the problems is that you’re teaming up with me, and I’m going around the whole city with a megaphone.
“It happened a bit last week with Regis Prograis last week where he’s at home, and he’s doing so much media, and there’s so much hype. People are talking about him against [Ryan] Garcia against Tank, and he actually underperformed.
“So, if the hypes not real about Berlanga, he’ll get found out against Quigley because Quigley is not an elite guy, but he’s a world-class fighter, and he’ll cause him problems so
“Edgar is a character. The first time I went in to meet him, we were in a room like this he’s got the black mink coat on, he’s got all the ice around his neck, he’s got the shades on. Before I even said anything, I thought, ‘I like you; yeah, you’re different.’
“The problem is with that kind of personality; you’re going to get the ones like your teacher, who will look at him and go, ‘Ah, he hasn’t beaten anyone yet, and he’s wearing a mink coat.’
“I don’t mind, I don’t care. Like him, hate him, but we’ve seen him through ticket sales; this kid could be a star. If we can build him up, if he’s good enough to get to a Canelo Alvarez fight, the Mexico and Puerto Rican rivalry will be insane, but you have to prove your worth.
“So, he beats Quigley, goes into a Munguia or Golovkin or a Ryder or Saunders, then we can start really talking about [fighting Canelo]. Listen, we could do the fight now. He’ll [Berlanga]] do great numbers, but if he really proves his worth, it’ll be a mega-fight,” said Hearn.
