Berlanga says he wants to be recognized for skill and ring IQ rather than power, jewelry and his public image ahead of Steven Butler
Edgar Berlanga says he wants to change how boxing fans judge his career ahead of his July 26 fight against Steven Butler. Rather than being known for his power and personality, Berlanga wants to earn recognition for his boxing IQ and technical ability.
“I want to change the perspective of people,” Berlanga said. “I want to be talked about like Bam Rodriguez, Shakur Stevenson, that I got skill, IQ. I owe it to myself,” said Berlanga on Brian Custer’s channel.
That may be the toughest fight of his career.
Changing public opinion is often harder than winning bouts. Berlanga built his brand on first-round knockouts, confidence and self-promotion. Those qualities made him popular, but they also convinced many fans that image came before boxing.
Berlanga acknowledged as much during the interview, admitting he spent years relying on talent instead of discipline. He said previous training camps often became a race to get into shape instead of refining his skills, while this camp has been different from the start.
He also pointed to disciplined champions such as Terence Crawford, Shakur Stevenson, Andre Ward and Floyd Mayweather as the example he wants to follow. He wants people discussing his technical ability alongside those names rather than focusing on his personality outside the ring.
Steven Butler now becomes the first test of that new image. A sharp, disciplined performance would support Berlanga’s argument that he has matured as a fighter. Another outing built mainly on power shots and emotion would make it difficult to convince skeptics that anything has really changed.
Berlanga says he wants fans to judge him more for what he does inside the ring than for the image he projects outside of it. Against Butler, he’ll have his first opportunity in a year to show that his boxing ability deserves the spotlight.
