Gabe Rosado is happy about presumably preventing Edgar Berlanga, the previous tremendous middleweight world title challenger, subsequent yr in Puerto Rico.
The New Yorker Berlanga (22-1, 17 KOs) and Rosado are each of Puerto Rican descent however have been born within the U.S. They’re anticipated to combat subsequent on the Island in what could be a Matchroom Boxing-promoted card on DAZN.
The 19-year skilled Rosado (26-17-1, 15 KOs) hasn’t received a combat in 4 years since his upset third-round knockout win over Bektemir Melikuziev on June 19, 2021.
Berlanga suffered his first professional defeat, shedding to unified 168-lb champion Canelo Alvarez on September 14th in Las Vegas. It was fairly one-sided for essentially the most half, however Berlanga, 27, made it aggressive together with his big measurement. He’d reportedly rehydrated to 193 lbs after weighing in at 167 3/4 lbs.
That’s a 25.25 lb weight achieve after rehydrating. Canelo dropped Berlanga within the third spherical however then appeared to let his foot off the accelerator as a substitute of going for the knockout. Some folks consider Canelo carried Berlanga.
They felt Alvarez didn’t wish to be criticized for knocking the Brooklyn, New York native out as a result of he’d already been ridiculed for cherry-picking him over extra confirmed fighters like David Benavidez and David Morrell.
The Scores
118-109
117-110
118-109
Followers would favor that Berlanga combat an precise contender relatively than the 38-year-old journeyman Rosado for his subsequent combat, however it could be too dangerous to place him in with a top-15 man. Berlanga is already speaking about selecting up a fast win after which preventing Jaime Munguia to get a rematch with Canelo.
It would take greater than beating Rosado and Munguia for Berlanga to get a second combat in opposition to Alvarez, however you may’t blame him for eager to strive a minimum of. Berlanga’s purse for that combat was $3 million, and he seemingly made extra cash from the PPV. It generated a reported 650,000 buys. These are wonderful numbers.
“It’s a combat for me that’s a dream combat simply because I by no means fought in Puerto Rico,” stated Gabe Rosado to MillCity Boxing about him probably preventing New Yorker Edgar Berlanga subsequent in 2025 in Puerto Rico. “I stay in Puerto Rico for half a yr. I’ve a home on the market. So, I’m at all times there.
“I’m telling you, that may put a unique battery in my again. You bought the legends like Cotto, Tito [Trinidad, and Amanda Serrano out there. It’s so good for the sport. Puerto Rican boxing is getting back on the map, because you’ve got so much great talent now.
“You got Berlanga, and you got the vet, Gabe Rosado. To put us in PR, the island will love it. You’ve got two Boricuas from the States coming back to Puerto Rico,” said Rosado about him and Berlanga. “It would be history, It would be a dope event. There’s no real difference from being in Puerto Rico and being in Philly.”
Fans outside of the East Coast would prefer to see Berlanga fight someone a little younger than the 38-year-old Rosado next. Rosado’s 17 defeats make it difficult to take him and this fight seriously. This strengthens the argument that the former Top Rank-promoted Berlanga is just a manufactured hype job created to sell tickets in the New York area.
It would be more interesting for fans outside of the New York area if Berlanga fought one of these contenders next:
– Osleys Iglesias
– Caleb Plant
– Christian Mbilli
– Diego Pacheco
– Erik Bazinyan
– Bruno Surace
