A possible grudge fight could be brewing in the form of a super-middleweight match up between Billy Joe Saunders and Edgar Berlanga. Former two-weight champion Saunders, who has not fought since he was painfully stopped by Canelo Alvarez back in May of 2021, with Saunders suffering a nasty eye injury in the stoppage defeat, has called out unbeaten puncher Edgar Berlanga.
Berlanga, who recently signed a deal with Eddie Hearn and Matchroom and will have his first fight under the new contract on June 24 in New York, responded quickly to Saunders and the two swapped insults on social media.
“I’m looking for a comeback fight, you available? You bum,” Saunders wrote, starting things off the way he had clearly planned.
“How’s ya eye doing? You could see now?” Berlanga shot back.
“I only need one eye for you, p***y boy. You got a record full of bums, so when you want a lesson hit Eddie up….bring your mum over also, because after, you will be calling me daddy…good boy,” BJS wrote.
You get the picture. Saunders, 30-1(14) was a real talent, and maybe still can be, but how much did that loss to Canelo take out of him? Now aged 33, the southpaw from Hertfordshire picked up a huge payday for the Canelo fight and the former WBO middle and super-middleweight champ piled on a good deal of weight afterwards. Now, it seems Saunders wants another payday, hence the taunting of Berlanga.
Berlanga as we know, romped to 16 straight KO wins after going pro, his last four fights all going the distance. The 26 year old from Puerto Rico is now 20-0(16) and “The Chosen One” will face Jason Quigley in his first fight under Hearn. The big fight Berlanga wants is one with Canelo (and Hearn says this could happen, if Berlanga looks impressive against Quigley and continues to loom impressive afterwards).
A Berlanga-Saunders fight could happen, and maybe it would be a good fight. Saunders has started something with Berlanga in insulting him the way he has, and now we’ll wait and see if either BJS or Berlanga finishes it in the ring.