Promoter Eddie Hearn says that Edgar Berlanga may return in February where he will fight in New York or in his father’s country of Puerto Rico. Hearn commented on Berlanga’s (22-1, 17 KOs) plan to get him back on track after losing to super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez last Saturday.
Berlanga may have other plans. In his interview last Saturday, he said he wants to fight for the IBF super middleweight title and then face Canelo in a non-title match next year.
IBF’s Rehydration Limit
If Berlanga continues that plan, he will face William Scull and Vladimir Shishkin in a fight for the IBF title.
One obstacle for Berlanga, 27, is the IBF’s 10 lb rehydration limit. It is reported that Berlanga was put back in the water 193 lbs Last Saturday night in his fight with Canelo.
If Berlanga wants to fight for the IBF belt, he will have to drop his weight overnight after the weigh-in to 10 lb at 178 lbs. That obviously won’t work for Berlanga if he’s going to hit the 190s again. It would be very difficult for Berlanga to weigh in on the IBF’s second heavyweight on the morning of the fight.
Berlanga should forget about trying to win the IBF title because if he makes weight in that fight, it does not guarantee that he will win or that Canelo will seek a rematch. Hearn did not talk about wanting Berlanga to fight for the IBF title.
Hearn’s plan seems to focus on Berlanga performing in February and facing one of these four names:
- Jaime Munguia
- Caleb Plant
- Jermall Charlo
- Diego Pacheco
Of those names, Berlanga may have the most interest in fighting Munguia because he is arguably more popular than the others. Jermall was once a top fighter but his career slipped into unemployment.
Former IBF super middleweight champion, Caleb Plant, has a poor 2-2 record in his last four fights and looked in poor shape last Saturday, winning and suffering multiple injuries in his fight with Trevor McCumby.
“Come back, fight well at 168, then all those names are available: Munguia, Plant, Pacheco, Charlo.,” said Hearn on IFLTV about his plans for Berlanga in 2025.
Berlanga Needs Old Formula
If Hearn wants to get enough mileage out of Berlanga’s career to rebuild him as a marketing product to make money, he shouldn’t compare him to Pacheco, Charlo, Plant, or Munguia. Berlanga may lose to all four of those heroes, and the money he will bring in his fights will stop overnight.
Hearn should go back to the formula that got Berlanga this far by matching him to sublevel ham & eggers and put together another type of cash-out fight for him. Even though Berlanga is a big 190+ cruiserweight, he may lose the four fights Hearn wants to fight. Berlanga is not good enough to beat those types of fighters.
Given that Berlanga seemed to lose every round of his fight with Canelo, his next fight in Puerto Rico, as if he was going to win, would be strange.
It would make sense for Berlanga to return home to New York, where he was born and raised, rather than fight in his parents’ homeland of Puerto Rico, viewing his one-sided loss to Canelo as a false victory. That would be weird.
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