By Jake Tiernan: Edgar Berlanga’s promoter Eddie Hearn says he’s going to DAZN to talk to them after Oscar De La Hoya let him know that Jaime Munguia, a fighter he’s been carefully guiding for the past ten years, won’t be facing Eddie’s hoped-for star next.
Hearn badly needs Munguia (42-0, 33 KOs) for the unbeaten super middleweight contender Berlanga (21-0, 16 KOs) to help accelerate his progress towards becoming a superstar in the U.S to replace Canelo Alvarez, who has left Matchroom & DAZN to sign a three-fight deal with PBC.
Hearn has faint hope that Canelo will return to DAZN/Matchroom after he finishes his PBC deal, and if/when that happens, he wants Berlanga to be ready to fight the Mexican star. To ensure that Berlanga is the one that Canelo chooses, he needs at least one solid victory over a notable fighter in Munguia.
The other guys that Hearn will likely match Berlanga against to build him into a star are John Ryder & Billy Joe Saunders, two British fighters long in the tooth and not viewed as a threat to beating Edgar.
Hearn could be kidding himself if he believes Canelo will be encouraged to give the huge 26-year-old Berlanga if he beats those old war-torn Brits.
Eddie is going about it the wrong way by looking to get Munguia, Ryder & Saunders to turn Berlanga into a name that will lure Canelo because it has little chance of working. Alvarez obviously knows that Munguia’s resume is one of the poorest, and he’s been matched to keep him from losing.
Berlanga is big enough to be fighting at 175, as he’s the same size as light heavyweights Dmitry Bivol & Artur Beterbiev. That’s where he should be fighting if he wants to properly bait Canelo into fighting him.
The best way for Hearn to build Berlanga into a star would have him run the gauntlet by facing these fighters to show Canelo he’s worth fighting:
- David Morrell Jr
- Diego Pacheco
- Demetrius Andrade
- David Benavidez
- Dmitry Bivol
- Janibek Alimkhanuly
- Carlos Adames
- Jermall Charlo
- Artur Beterbiev
- Joshua Buatsi
It’s safe to say that if Berlanga beats four or five of those guys, he’d be a star, and Canelo Alvarez would be chomping at the bit to fight him when he completes his three-fight deal with PBC.
“Oscar De La Hoya is a complete f***ing idiot! His job is to put on good fights for DAZN. So what I’ll do with Oscar De La Hoya is I’ll speak to his bosses, and I’ll come back to him,” said Matchrooom promoter Eddie Hearn during last Saturday’s press conference following Jaime Munguia’s win over Jason Quigley in New York.
“It’s probably the worst managed career I’ve ever seen in boxing history.
