Edgar Berlanga posted a clip on social media today showing off his new mobile fighting style. He is preparing for his ten-round fight against Jonathan Gonzalez-Ortiz on March 15th at the Caribe Royale in Orlando, Florida.
Puerto Rico Plans Fail
Promoter Eddie Hearn says that the original idea was for Berlanga to headline a show in Puerto Rico, but the negotiations broke down between himself, Berlanga’s manager Keith Connolly and DAZN. It was rumored that Berlanga wanted to fight 39-year-old journeyman Gabe Rosado (26-17-1, 15 KOs), who is from Philadelphia.
Berlanga’s movement in the video is almost comical, as it’s too much for a fighter with his huge cruiserweight frame. He’s facing a weak opponent in a confidence-builder on DAZN. The two are fighting on the undercard of Austin ‘Ammo’ Williams vs. Patrice Volny.
Berlanga (21-1, 17 KOs) looks like he’s trying to reinvent himself by changing his normal brawling style to become more of a defensive fighter. This comes after his 12-round unanimous decision loss to unified super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez on September 14th.
Berlanga dropped in the third round, and the only reason he wasn’t knocked out is because Canelo looked like he gassed out right away. Still, it was one-sided in Canelo’s favor. Berlanga looked like he was afraid to engage until the twelfth, and by then, it was too late.
“Going into the Canelo fight, they [Team Berlanga] wanted a comeback provision within that contract for a defeat. It’s very standard,” said Eddie Hearn to Chris Mannix’s YouTube channel. “What we agreed to was that the comeback fight would be a relatively straightforward fight on an undercard and the purse would be X.
“We were planning on having a bigger fight in a headline fight in Puerto Rico, but negotiations kind of broke down a bit between DAZN, myself, and Keith Connolly, and we kind of ran out of time. So, we got to a stage where we were five weeks out. I don’t think anyone was comfortable with how that [fight] would have delivered in Puerto Rico.
“So, we just reverted back to the contract. What we’re doing is delivering what was in the contract, and they’re [Team Berlanga] not disputing that either. We got to a stage where, ‘Let’s just do the undercard fight, which was contracted. And they just said, ‘Okay, let’s get on with it.'”
It’s understandable why the negotiations might have broken down if the idea was for Berlanga to fight Rosado in the headliner on DAZN. That would have put the streaming service in a situation where they likely wouldn’t have received much return for their money because that’s not an interesting fight.
“It’s not an ideal position, I think, but it’s a position that’s sticking to everybody’s word off the back of the Canelo Alvarez fight,” said Hearn. “We’re still talking to Keith, and we’d still like an opportunity to deliver a big fight for Edgar in the summer.
“I think he’ll look good in that fight, and it’s actually a fun fight. It’s a Puerto Rican opponent who will come to fight, but we expect Edgar to look very good. He wants a quick win and get out in a big fight in the summer,” said Hearn.
