Boxing for the first time under the Matchroom banner, unbeaten super-middleweight Edgar Berlanga got the win last night over Jason Quigley, but “The Chosen One,” as the Puerto Rican is called, didn’t get the statement win he and Eddie Hearn wanted, Berlanga didn’t get the KO, instead having to make do with a wide unanimous decision win and the scoring of four knockdowns.
Now 21-0(16) Berlanga has won his last five fights via decision, this after initially romping to a quite eye-catching 16 straight KO’s, all of them coming in the opening round. Quigley, who had his moments last night, falls to 20-3(14).
So, what next for Berlanga? The 26 year old has made it clear he wants a mega-fight with superstar Canelo Alvarez, but it’s not likely Berlanga earned that with last night’s win. There are, however, a good many other options for the heavy-handed Berlanga. Hearn spoke about how he would like to make a fight between Berlanga and Jaime Munguia (Oscar De La Hoya won’t like the idea of working with Hearn, but that’s another story!), or, failing that, Berlanga against either Gennady Golovkin, Billy Joe Saunders (who recently called Berlanga out via some insults the former two-time champ hurled at Berlanga on social media) or John Ryder.
“I’d like it to be [Berlanga versus Munguia], Mexico versus Puerto Rico,” Hearn said. “You’ve got Gennady Golovkin, you’ve got John Ryder, you’ve got Billy Joe Saunders…..they’re the guys, you need a guy who’s coming to win, on the front foot against Edgar Berlanga and that’s when you’re gonna see the best of him.”
Hearn said he felt it was a good performance from Berlanga last night, although the promoter did say Berlanga “went very quiet in the fight between rounds seven and 11.” And it was a decent performance for sure. But fans want knockouts, especially from a guy who predicts them and used to score them in all of his fights. Can Berlanga KO an elite fighter? Will we really see the best of Berlanga if or when he fights a come-forward, aggressive puncher? How will Berlanga’s chin hold up against a genuine power-puncher?
That talked of (by Hearn mostly) Berlanga-Munguia fight would indeed be one to watch. Munguia, unbeaten at 42-0(33) gave us a genuine thriller, a FOTY contender, a couple of weeks ago against Sergiy Derevyanchenko, and this possible Mexico-Puerto Rico rumble would very likely be a great action fight also.
But who wins if it happens? Can Edgar Berlanga defeat elite level fighters?