Promoter Eddie Hearn Says Edgar Berlanga may return in February for a struggle in New York or his father’s house nation of Puerto Rico. Hearn hinted at a tune-up for Berlanga (22-1, 17 KOs) to get him again to his profitable methods after dropping to unified tremendous middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez final Saturday.
Berlanga could produce other plans. In an interview final Saturday, he mentioned he needs to struggle for the IBF tremendous middleweight title subsequent after which face Canelo for the undisputed championship subsequent 12 months.
IBF’s Rehydration Restrict
If Berlanga goes by way of with that plan, he’ll face the winner of the William Scull vs. Vladimir Shishkin struggle for the IBF title.
The one impediment for Berlanga, 27, is the IBF’s 10-lb rehydration restrict. Berlanga reportedly rehydrated to 193 lbs final Saturday night time for his struggle in opposition to Canelo.
If Berlanga needed to struggle for the IBF belt, he would want to maintain his weight down in a single day after the weigh-in to be inside the 10-lb restrict of 178 lbs. That’s clearly not going to work for Berlanga if he’s going to be rehydrating to the 190s. It could be very tough for Berlanga to make weight for the IBF’s secondary weigh-in on the morning of the struggle.
Berlanga ought to neglect about making an attempt to win the IBF title as a result of if he may make weight for that struggle, it doesn’t assure that he would win or that Canelo can be curious about a rematch. Hearn didn’t point out wanting Berlanga to struggle for the IBF title.
Hearn’s plan seems to be centered on Berlanga taking a tune-up in February after which dealing with one in every of these 4 names:
- Jaime Munguia
- Caleb Plant
- Jermall Charlo
- Diego Pacheco
Of these names, Berlanga would doubtless be extra curious about combating Munguia as a result of he’s arguably extra common than the others. Jermall was a high fighter however has let his profession slide by being inactive.
Former IBF tremendous middleweight champion Caleb Plant has a poor document of 2-2 in his final 4 fights and regarded mediocre final Saturday night time, getting dropped and damage a number of instances in his struggle in opposition to fringe contender Trevor McCumby.
“Come again, have struggle at 168, after which all of these names can be found: Munguia, Plant, Pacheco, Charlo.,” mentioned Hearn to IFLTV about his plans for Berlanga in 2025.
Berlanga Wants the Previous Formulation
If Hearn needs to get essentially the most mileage out of Berlanga’s profession to rebuild him as a advertising product to generate income, he shouldn’t match him in opposition to Pacheco, Charlo, Plant, or Munguia. Berlanga would doubtless lose to all 4 of these fighters, and the cash that he brings in for his fights would dry up in a single day.
Hearn ought to return to the system that received Berlanga this far by matching him in opposition to sublevel ham & eggers and ramp him up for one more cash-out kind of struggle. Even with Berlanga’s huge 190+ cruiserweight dimension, he would doubtless lose to the 4 fighters that Hearn needs to struggle. Berlanga isn’t ok to beat these varieties of fighters.
On condition that Berlanga appeared to lose each spherical of his struggle in opposition to Canelo, staging his subsequent struggle in Puerto Rico, as if he’s coming off a win, can be weird.
It could make extra sense for Berlanga to return house to New York, the place he was born and raised, quite than combating in his dad or mum’s house nation of Puerto Rico, treating his one-sided loss to Canelo like a faux victory. That might be bizarre.
