Hamzah Sheeraz (22-0-1, 18 KOs) revealed that he told Edgar Berlanga (23-2, 18 KOs) after their fight on Saturday night in Queens that he could “keep his 100k” that they’d bet on the outcome of their clash.
Hamzah Sheeraz on “100k” Bet
Sheeraz knocked out Berlanga in the fifth, meaning that he’d won the bet. However, he says it’s against his religion to bet, and he felt he made a mistake by betting in the first place.
Berlanga fell apart in the fourth round, getting dropped twice by Sheeraz after eating hard combinations. Edgar didn’t realize how good an inside fighter Sheeraz was, because he got caught by a sudden burst of speedy combinations.
For a tall fighter, Hamzah showed that he can generate tremendous power in close. Poor Berlanga found out too late and was put down hard. He never recovered from that knockdown. Sheeraz dropped Berlanga a second time moments later.
At the start of the fifth, Sheeraz dropped Berlanga again. The referee, David Fields, stepped in and waved it off. He didn’t bother waiting to see if Berlanga would get back up again, which he would have. He’d decided he’d seen enough.
Hamzah Sheeraz: Betting Mistake Revealed
“I just told him he can keep his 100k. It’s against my religion to bet, and in the moment, I shook his hand,” said Hamzah Sheeraz at the post-fight press conference when asked what he had told Edgar Berlanga after the fight. “I got a lot of stick for that. It was a mistake. I’ve got my debt collector here, Frank.”
The loss for Berlanga ends his hopes to get “that big bag” in a rematch against Canelo Alvarez, but it also places his career on thin ice. With the rematch with Canelo no longer a possibility, Berlanga faces some tough choices. Unless Turki Alalshikh wants to continue to use him on his cards, he doesn’t have a lot of options for money fights. Caleb Plant is probably the only viable option
